The effects of five different biomass species and their chemical composition on the overall process efficiency and economic performance considering feedstock availability and feedstock costs to manufacture ethanol from lignocellulose were studied. First is a comparison of ethanol production and excess electricity generated between different biomass species. Results show that, at the same feedstock rate of 2000 Mg day(-1), aspen wood has larger ethanol production than switchgrass, hybrid poplar and corn stover, while the excess electricity generated is as follows in increasing order: aspen < corn stover < hybrid poplar/switchgrass. Second, our results show that the ethanol production is largely linear with holocellulose (cellulose plus hemicellulose) composition of the various biomass species. However, the relationship between excess electricity generated and non-holocellulose combustible component is nonlinear. Last, on environmental performance, it is found that the water losses per unit ethanol production are in the following order: aspen wood < corn stover < hybrid poplar < switchgrass. While corn stover is a potential feedstock to produce cellulosic ethanol with the lowest ethanol production cost at the present time, hybrid poplar and switchgrass are the two promising future energy crops. The effects of plant size analysis showed that the estimated feedstock delivered costs, ethanol production, excess electricity generated and solid and gaseous waste emissions all increase with plant size for the various biomass species. The ethanol production costs decrease with the increase in plant size with optimal plant sizes for corn stover in the range from 2000 dry Mg day(-1) to 4000 dry Mg day(-1). (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.