**9. Opportunities for cost reduction**

It is apparent that second-generation ethanol is currently much more costly to produce than first-generation ethanol. It is hard to predict when the cost of lignocellulosic ethanol will be reduced to the level of corn/sugar cane ethanol. Dramatic reductions in the capital and operational costs must occur before the potential superior environmental benefits from cellulosic ethanol relative to corn ethanol can be realized. Pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and distillation are responsible for much of the cost of producing bioethanol. Currently, intensive research is being conducted to improve each of the processes to make them more economical.
