Possible competition between bioenergy and food is so complex that many stud­ies, depending on the context (or purposes of the study), will be contradictory. But, many countries (consumers) are dependent on fossil fuels and have to contend with their unstable prices. The negative energy balance has become a problem­atic issue, and fuel ethanol for automotive transport, for example, represents the unique stable alternative. Additionally, environmental improvements are reached when fuel ethanol is blended with gasoline. Other countries can find in biofuels like ethanol the beginning of an economic development for rural areas.

The main problem we have today in this important discussion is the existence of a large quantity of speculative information about biofuels and food security. Most of this information is incorrectly used for political and economical pur­poses. The real regulator of land use for food or biofuels is the market. Displacing gasoline demand in the coming years will require the combined development of second-generation technologies and large-scale international trade in ethanol fuel. Without second-generation technologies, large-scale production of ethanol, especially from sugarcane, in developing countries will increase and along with

TABLE 13.2 Research Trends and Priorities for improving Fuel Ethanol Production by Means of Process Engineering
Issue Am feedstocks Process synthesis Process synthesis by different approaches (e. g., optimization — based process synthesis)	sugarcane Integration of ethanol production from sugarcane with facilities for ethanol production from cane bagasse	starchy Materials Integration of corn dry-milling plants with facilities for ethanol production from corn fiber	Ugnocellulosic Biomass Precise assessment of available biomass based on access and composition Process flowsheet development considering different pretreatment methods Full pilot-plant process analysis, especially for continuous processes
Process analysis Improvement of process control and operation (e. g., modeling, nonlinear analysis) Improvement of simulation and optimization tools (e. g., optimization under uncertainty, metabolic-flux models)
Continued

TABLE 13.2 (Continued) Research Trends and Priorities for improving Fuel Ethanol Production by Means of Process Engineering
Issue Process integration	Am feedstocks Integration of fermentation and separation processes for reduction of product inhibition Application of membrane technology (e. g., for ethanol removal or dehydration) Energy integration (e. g., by pinch technology)	sugarcane Development of efficient co-generation technologies using cane bagasse	starchy Materials Development of consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) Recombinant microorganisms for conversion of starch into ethanol	Ugnocellulosic Biomass Increase of effectiveness of SSF and SSCF processes (e. g., by improvement of cellulase activity) Development of CBP Increase of ethanol tolerance in microorganisms converting cellulose into ethanol Development of recombinant microorganisms for CBP Develop. of efficient co-generation technology using solid residues of the process (as BIG/CC)
Improvement of environmental performance considering the whole life cycle of bioethanol Production of valuable co-products (retrofit to biorefineries) Integration with petrochemical industry (e. g., ETBE prdn.) and biofuels production (e. g., biodiesel)
Other process engineering issues

this, new problems related to food security will appear. In order to avoid a non­equilibrium development of a fuel ethanol market based on energy crops, drastic but fair regulations from governments must be instituted.

Each country has to create appropriate rules and laws for developing fuel ethanol programs based on its specific supply and demand characteristics. Additionally, the overall energy policies that include bioenergy should be care­fully designed to include all possible energy sources in harmonized and balanced form. It is not logical, for example, that renewable energies coming from the sun and wind are more developed in countries having limited access to these sources than in tropical countries.

With purposes of an open discussion about the future of food security concerns on fuel ethanol production, Table 13.3 presents an overview of the perspectives, challenges, and risks of different topics involved in this issue.