Due to the limited capacity to expand ethanol production from corn grain, it is now widely recognized that there is considerable urgency to commercialize a technology to produce cellulosic ethanol from biomass. Four general technologies for producing cellulosic ethanol have reached the pilot scale in the United States. Acid hydrolysis and fermentation can produce about 60 gal. of ethanol per dry ton of biomass. Enzyme hydrolysis and fermentation yields are 60-80 gal. per ton, but projected cost per gallon is still over $2.00. Lignin is a residual of these two processes that can be used for heat and/or power production. Iogen, a company in Canada (www.iogen.com) is attempting to commercialize the enzyme-based process. Thermochemical procedures involve gasification followed by either biological (www.brienergy.com) or catalytic (www.phoenixcgi.com; http://www.syntecbiofuel.com/index.html ) conversion of the resultant synthesis gas to ethanol. These technologies have the advantage of being more flexible with respect to feedstock, and are expected to provide higher ethanol yields per ton (100+ gal) than the hydrolysis-based procedures, and lower costs (< $1.00) per gallon than corn ethanol. Gasification and catalytic conversion, Fischer-Tropsch, or gas-to liquid (GTL) technology is essentially the same as that used commercially by SASOL in South Africa to produce gasoline from coal (http://www.sasol.com/sasol_internet/frontend/navigation.jsp?navid=1600033&rootid=2). Therefore, it is possible that this technology has the best potential for near term commercialization.