Ethanol can be produced from waste biomass by a variety of production techniques that are based on either biotic or abiotic mechanisms. In either case, processing of the waste biomass is required as opposed to the direct production of ethanol from starch-rich crops, such as corn, via fermentation. The following three biotic techniques have indicated a high potential for producing ethanol from waste biomass:

In all cases, the components of waste biomass sources that are resistant to direct fermentation (in terms of most waste biomass these components make up a large portion of the materials) are transformed to a more useful form that is fermented to produce ethanol among other products of value. DOE is currently investing a significant amount of effort in the commercialization of the cellulase technique and, in fact, commercialization efforts are underway. Concerns do persist on the effectiveness of this process for feedstocks of highly heterogeneous composition that is typical of many waste biomass sources and the long-term stability of fermenter bacterial isolates/catalysts. In terms of the other two processes, these techniques do indicate promise because they appear much better suited for production of ethanol from waste biomass sources; however, commercialization of either of these two processes has been primarily hindered by less than ideal economics stemming from somewhat high production costs. Much of the overall technological concepts are in place to mass-produce ethanol from biomass using a variety of production techniques. However, a significant amount of process optimization must be accomplished to provide a stable economic base to support such an industry. Clearly, technological improvements are needed to advance these processes from promising concepts to fully viable industries, especially in biomass rich states such as Mississippi.