Ethanol or ethyl alcohol, capable of being blended with gasoline to produce an alternative fuel namely gasohol, can be produced from diversified carbohydrate-containing materials. Those important ones are agricultural materials and industrial wastes such as crop biomass, sawdust and agricultural residues. In , the main economic crops potentially being used as the raw material for ethanol production are sugar cane and cassava. In sugar industry, molasses, a by-product of sugar industry, is a potential raw material for ethanol production

With the total production of 75 million tons of cane per year, around 3.75 million tons of molasses are produced annually (accounting for 5% of sugar cane).

For cassava to produce ethanol, starch is initially converted to fermentable sugars namely glucose by the enzyme or acid process. The sugars are then fermented to ethanol by yeast similar to fermentation of cane sugar. Cassava is able to grow with minimal inputs for a reasonable returning yield on infertile land

where the cultivation of other crops is difficult unless considerable inputs are applied. Therefore, this crop becomes one of crops potentially being used for producing ethanol in .

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