abstract
- © 2014 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. The interest in alternative energy sources continues for several reasons including the nonrenewable supply of fossil fuels, climate change, and energy security. In the past 12 years, ethanol production and use as an automotive fuel has increased at least 12 times. According to the Renewable Fuels Association, the worldwide and US biorefineries generated nearly 110 and 53 billion liters of fuel ethanol in the year 2011. Current ethanol production is based primarily on maize and sugarcane as feedstocks (Berg 2004, Renewable Fuels Association 2012), and the use of these raw materials causes concerns related to food security especially as world population exceeds 7 billion (FAOSTAT 2012).