Read it and weep. There is no such thing as a free lunch:
Between 1995 and 2003, federal corn subsidies totaled $37.3 billion. That's more than twice the amount spent on wheat subsidies, three times the amount spent on soybeans, and 70 times the amount spent on tobacco.
Which is quite stupid and indefensible. We are talking new technology where you are not paying to grow crops but rather taking ag waste and breaking it down into ethyl. The fact that uncle sam has to pay people to make the stuff proves it is not economically viable, but don't forget those subsidies were when gas was at a buck a gallon. Convential corn fructose ethanol conversion is probably a little better than breakeven now.
In Brazil where they make ethyl from sugar can, it is much more cost effective, because the can has a much higher energy level than corn. Our current program has simply been a gift to Archer Daniels Midland. The new systems will be economically feasible. Cost per gallon will drop to the low 70 cent range.