Biomass Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (BIGCC) technology can be used to generate process heat and significant amounts of electricity at dry-grind ethanol facilities by utilizing the ethanol process co-products and other biomass sources. These systems can reduce fuel costs for ethanol plants, improve the renewable energy balance of dry-grind ethanol production, and provide reliable renewable electricity for process use and for sale to the local utility. An Aspen Plus model of the dry-grind ethanol process is used as the basis for a subsequent gasification system model. A twin fluidized bed steam gasification configuration based on the SilvaGas process is used to generate synthesis gas. The results show that a dry-grind ethanol facility with a capacity of 190 million liters per year could produce 30.4 MWe of power while supplying all its process heat needs using ethanol co-products and corn cobs. This configuration results in a three fold improvement in the amount of renewable energy produced per unit of fossil energy used compared to a conventional ethanol production process using natural gas. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.