Biomass still remains the best carbon source to replace fuels
and chemicals currently produced from crude oil and coal
[1,2]. Although a number of second generation technologies
for the production of fuel ethanol have been proposed and
tested [3e6] the use of large amounts of harsh chemicals and
enzymes necessary to liberate sugars from the plant materials
have made most of the technologies very expensive. The
concept of a bio-refinery was developed in an effort to produce
a wide variety of products from a single biomass feedstock
[7e11] which would help to make the production facility
economically feasible. A bio-refinery in itself does not
contribute toward alleviating fears regarding food security,
even if second generation feedstock such as grass or
agricultural waste is used, because the energy crop still needs
to be planted and for that land and water is required. A more
elegant solution is the use of a bio-refinery feedstock that can
produce both food (in the form of grain) and fuel (from
bagasse) in a single crop