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My next question is can it work with carbon dioxide?

I suspect not. The bacteria are probably metabolizing the CO by oxidizing the carbon in it from +2 to +4 and capturing some of the energy of the oxidation reaction. The carbon in CO₂ is already fully oxidized into its +4 state; it cannot be reacted further via simple oxidation and therefore cannot be used as an energy source. The CO₂ could be used by an organism to create a larger molecule to store energy from some other source which could then be fermented, but basically the only efficient variant on that process is photosynthesis to produce sugars, which brings us right back to corn.

Of course, it would be a real drag to use up all of our CO2 and cause vegetation to die, etc.

bear in mind, the ethanol produce here is for fuel- burning it releases all the CO₂ it originally captured

“...but basically the only efficient variant on that process is photosynthesis to produce sugars, which brings us right back to corn.”

Duh! I was thinking like a liberal (not thinking) and going for the complicated (and government funded?) solution instead of the obvious one! Thanks to all for the quick chemistry lesson.