Research progresses in fuel ethanol production from lignocellulosic materials

Lignocellulosic materials can be utilized to produce fuel ethanol.There are two key techniques involved in this con-version: hydrolysis of cellulose in the lignocellulosic materials to sugars,and fermentation of sugars to ethanol.The development sta-tus about them is presented.Various methods for material pretreatment,hydrolysis and fermentation are reviewed.The challenges to this field are also pointed out,and some suggestions are proposed for further research.