The 2nd method is to make syngas from the feedstock( coal, cellulose,etc) and then change it into ethanol. The big variable here is the energy input to make syngas. There are several companies that manufacture the equipment to do method #2. If you have 5-10 acres, a source of saw dust or wood chips, or coal,( or for that matter nat gas), and a power source, you too can make your own ethanol from wood, trash, coal, etc. The problems still remain, how much is the feedstock, how much does the energy input cost, and how much is the going price of ethanol? When ethanol was $4 a gallon, this was very positive. Now corn is high and ethanol is low which is the same problems oil refiners have at the moment. They call it "the crack spread". The answer, of course, is to get a cheaper feedstock, like sawdust or switch grass. And maybe some type of solar or coal powered energy source. As long a pols from Iowa control the process, this will be unlikely. They insist corn is the ONLY way America will go. They also still insist on subsidies when corn is at an all time high. We can buy 200 proof ethanol from Brazil for about $1.50 dollars a gallon,RIGHT NOW, But the US tacks on about 57 cents a gallon tax to keep it out of our market. We also give sugar subsidies to US farmers to keep the price of sugar propped up when it could be produced much cheaper and, ergo, make ethanol from sugar for less than $1 a gallon. Ethanol is workable, right now, but there are so many competing forces working against it, it looks bleak. Also, American ignorance on the subject is beyond belief. If we don't crack the corn cabal soon, ethanol as fuel, will die and Brazil will keep moving forward past oil independence, to oil exporter. Ethanol is the fuel answer, but corn ethanol from US farmers, is killing the idea. What if we bought corn from Russia, or Brazil? The farmers here would still pitch a function and you still have a tight energy profit. We must move on or ethanol will die.
Hmmm, if they can make ethanol directly from coal or natural gas, then what they should do is convert all electricity generation over to nuclear and save the coal for ethanol production. We’d be energy self sufficient easily. To keep the farmers from having fits, we could produce a deisel alternative from crops. This would save our petroleum for producing plastics, lubricants, adhesives, fertilizers, etc.