NOVELTY - Preparing (P1) alcohol involves passing fermentation stream produced in fermentation zone to separation zone; concentrating the alcohol and organic acid into an upper column fraction in separation zone; injecting an additive for neutralization of organic acid; reacting the additive with organic acid to produce a neutralized product; recovering a column overhead from the separation zone; recovering a column bottoms stream having neutralization product; and returning the column bottoms stream from the separation zone to alcohol producing fermentation zone.    USE - For preparing alcohol selected from ethanol, n-butanol, hexanol, acetic acid, butyric acid (claimed), and ethylene.    ADVANTAGE - The method improves the efficiency of converting alcohol derived from biomass into olefins; and converts ethanol or other alcohols with minor amounts of by-product organic acids and integrates efficient separation steps to deliver an alcohol stream of sufficient quality and purity for producing olefins from the alcohol.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Preparing (P1) an alcohol containing stream from an alcohol producing fermentation zone as a feed for an olefin reaction zone by removing organic acids, involves a) passing a fermentation stream produced in a fermentation zone to a separation zone, the fermentation stream comprising an alcohol, water and an organic acid; b) concentrating the alcohol and organic acid into an upper column fraction in the separation zone; c) injecting an additive for neutralization of the organic acid into contact with the upper column fraction; d) reacting the additive with the organic acid to produce a neutralized product that passes to a lower portion of a separation column within the separation zone; e) recovering a column overhead from the separation zone having an increased concentration of the alcohol and a reduced concentration of the organic acid; f) recovering a column bottoms stream containing the neutralization product; and g) returning the column bottoms stream from the separation zone to an alcohol producing fermentation zone. INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for the following:    (1) reducing (P2) organic acid in an ethanol containing stream from a syngas fermentation zone, involving passing a syngas stream containing at least one of CO or a mixture of CO2 and H2 to a fermentation zone and converting at least a portion of the syngas to ethanol; withdrawing a fermentation stream comprising water, ethanol (2-5 wt.%), acetate (at least 0.3 wt.%) and free acetic acid (at least 1 wt.%); passing the fermentation stream to a separation column and concentrating the ethanol and organic acids into an upper column fraction; injecting an additive for neutralization of the acetic acid into contact with the upper column fraction; reacting the additive with the acetic acid to produce a neutralization product that passes to a lower portion of the separation column; recovering a column overhead that is relatively free of organic acid and has ethanol (at least 50 wt.%); recovering a column bottoms stream containing the neutralization product; returning the portion of the column bottoms stream to an aqueous fermentation broth in the fermentation zone; and    (2) producing (P3) ethylene by reducing organic acid in an ethanol containing stream from a syngas fermentation zone and dehydrating the ethanol in an ethanol dehydration zone, involving passing a syngas stream containing at least one of CO or a mixture of CO2 and H2 to a fermentation zone and converting at least a portion of the syngas to ethanol; withdrawing a fermentation stream comprising water, ethanol (2-5 wt.%), acetate (at least 0.3 wt.%) and free acetic acid (at least 1 wt.%); passing at least a portion of the fermentation stream to a distillation column and concentrating the ethanol and organic acids into an upper column fraction; injecting an additive for neutralization of the acetic acid into contact with the upper column fraction; reacting the additive with the acetic acid to produce a neutralization product that passes to a lower portion of the distillation column; recovering a column overhead having at least 50 wt.% of ethanol and is relatively free of organic acid; recovering a column bottoms stream containing the neutralization product and having a pH of 5.5-8 from the distillation column; returning the at least a portion of the column bottoms stream to an aqueous fermentation broth in the fermentation zone; and passing a at least a portion of the column overhead stream to a catalytic dehydration zone for the production of ethylene.