NOVELTY - A process (M1) for producing an extruded brei involves providing a plant material comprising intact plant cells; and vacuum extruding plant material to break open intact plant cells.    USE - For providing extruded brei for the production of a product selected from alcohols (preferably ethanol), organic acids, ketones, amino acids, biogases, antibiotics, enzymes, vitamins, hormones, and biofuels, or in the extraction of saccharides comprising sugar and/or starch (preferably sucrose), or other plant materials such as starch, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectins, proteins, enzymes (claimed); methanol, propanol, butanol, lactic acid, citric acid, fructose, propanediol, distillers dried grain (DDG), distillers dried grain and/or solubles (DDGS).    ADVANTAGE - The extruded brei comprises at least 10 (preferably at least 1000) times fewer micro-organism contaminants than the plant material i.e. at least 4 orders of magnitude compared to the amount of micro-organisms originally present on the plant material. The process can be performed without slicing or cutting the plant material. The process produces more ethanol, quickly at lower fermentation temperatures than a conventional plant-to-ethanol process. The open cell walls result from the vacuum extrusion processes can increase the attack region for yeast and enzymes during fermentation of the extruded brei. Thus, a greater amount of the sugar available in a plant feedstock (e.g. the sugar naturally present in the plant cells prior to any starch or cellulose hydrolysis) is converted into ethanol than would be converted in a conventional plant-to-ethanol process (e.g. ethanol production from a conventionally prepared sugar beet juice). The fermentation of a mixture comprising an extruded brei results in production of 90% of the total amount of ethanol in the first 20 hours of fermentation.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for the following:    (1) use of the extruded brei or there extracted liquid phase, or the solid subject matter contained in the extruded brei in aerobic or anaerobic fermentation for the production of a product selected from alcohols (preferably ethanol), organic acids, ketones, amino acids, biogases, antibiotics, enzymes, vitamins, hormones, and biofuels, or in the extraction of saccharides or other plant materials such as starch, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectins, proteins, enzymes;    (2) use of a vacuum tank or a vacuum chamber for the preparation of the extruded brei;    (3) multi-step process for production of ethanol and biogas out of plant material, involving providing a plant material comprising plant cells as feedstock; subjecting the feedstock to the vacuum extrusion process (P1) to provide an extruded brei; optionally extracting plant substances and/or metabolites other than sugars and/or starch from the brei; subjecting the complete extruded brei or their portions to aerobic fermentation in a batch or as a continuous process in a fermentor to provide a fermented mixture comprising ethanol; separating the solid organic matter contained in the fermented mixture from the liquid phase and isolating the ethanol from the liquid phase using a distiller; and anaerobic fermentation in a biogas reactor to produce biogas or as a feed additive for livestock, or as a fertilizer using the solid organic matter as a fuel, where the distillation, the separation of the liquid phase from the residual solid matter and/or the separation of the ethanol from the liquid phase using a distiller is performed using energy produced from a biogas reactor;    (4) a process for producing ethanol, involving carrying out process (M1); and fermenting the extruded brei to provide a fermented mixture comprising either ethanol; and    (5) a process for providing a saccharide, involving carrying out process (M1), where the extruded brei comprises a saccharide.