Abstract: Fuel ethanol as a novel energy source is regenerable and environmental friendly.Ethanol can be produced from saccharide by microbial fermentation. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the bacterium Zymomonas mobilis are presently the most important ethanol producers in industry. All kinds of biomass including straw contained carbohydrate could be used as raw material for ethanol fermentation. Before the processes of ethanol fermentation, polysaccharides should be firstly hydrolyzed to fermentable sugar by enzymes. Moreover, bioethanol as the substitute of petroleum could be further applied in many other fields.

Key words: fuel ethanol, microorganism, fermentation, biomass