Currently, the fuel ethanol industry in China is in a critical period of transforming from the first-generation (1G) to the second-generation (2G). In this research, issues on the policy system, financial subsidy, industry layout, and historic yield of the fuel ethanol industry in China are comprehensively summarized and comparatively analyzed. Based on the correlation between the annual yield of crops and straws, a simple calculation is established to estimate the quantity of China’s straw resources. This study presents a path to accelerating the valorization of straw resources on an industrial scale by addressing critical factors to straw utilization, such as the stable supply of straw feedstock and the technical development in pretreatment, hydrolysis and saccharification, strain breeding and screening, and fermentation. This research is significant to guide the straw resource utilization, transformation and upgrading of the fuel ethanol industry, and achievement of carbon neutrality.

Flow diagram of cellulosic ethanol production

Schematic diagram of the enzymatic hydrolysis process of lignocellulosic biomass

Pretreatment and multi-scale characterization of lignocellulose and mechanism analysis