Deverell, RoryRoryDeverellMcDonnell, KevinKevinMcDonnellWard, ShaneShaneWardDevlin, GerGerDevlin2014-10-202014-10-202009 Elsev2009-10Energy Policyhttp://hdl.handle.net/10197/6066An economic assessment was conducted on five biomass-to-ethanol production pathways utilising the feedstock: wheat, triticale, sugarbeet, miscanthus and straw. The analysis includes the costs and margins for all the stakeholders along the economic chain. This analysis reveals that under current market situations in Ireland, the production of ethanol under the same tax regime as petrol makes it difficult to compete against that fuel, with tax breaks, however, it can compete against petrol. On the other hand, even under favourable tax breaks it will be difficult for indigenously produced ethanol to compete against cheaper sources of imported ethanol. Therefore, the current transport fuel market has no economic reason to consume indigenously produced ethanol made from the indigenously grown feedstock analysed at a price that reflects all the stakeholders’ costs. To deliver a significant penetration of indigenous ethanol into the market would require some form of compulsory inclusion or else considerable financial supports to feedstock and ethanol producers.enThis is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Energy Policy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Energy Policy (VOL 37, ISSUE 10, (2009)) DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2009.05.008EthanolEconomicsLignocelluloseJournal Article37103993400210.1016/j.enpol.2009.05.0082014-09-09https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/