TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - BIOLOGY - Preferred Components: The first substrate comprises biomass comprising commercial crops, feedstocks, sewage, wood, grasses, weeds, algae or by-products from processes arising from processing commercial crops, preferably water hyacinth, cumbungi, artichoke thistle, tapioca waste, buffel grass, triticale, sweet Sorghum, elephant grass or a Casuarina species. The first substrate is preferably water hyacinth. The particle size of the second substrate is less than or equal to 80 mu m, preferably less than or equal to 40 mu m.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The step (b) comprises drying, mechanical dehydration, mechanical processing, preferably mechanical processing, or a combination of mechanical processing and drying. EXAMPLE - Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) was collected from infested environmental sources. It was washed to remove adhering soil and debris before draining to remove excess water. The plant material was then chopped into smaller pieces (-10 cm) by hand. The chopped material was then dried using a commercial oven with a maximum drying temperature of 80 degrees C. The cut and dried water hyacinth was fed into a hopper using a screw conveyer powered by a 3 kW motor. The material was passed through a mechanical 1 kW cutter, with the resultant fragments collected in a hopper. To produce a powder, the contents of the hopper were then conveyed into two, sequential ball mills which were powered by a 3 kW motor. The powder was collected via suction into a receptacle container. The powder was then passed through the ball mills twice more to provide a particle size of less than or equal to 40 mu m. Dried, milled 40 mu m Eichhornia crassipes powder (132 kg) was incubated in acetate buffer (pH 5) and the mixture was heated to 60 degrees C. Once this temperature had been achieved, the enzymatic extract from a facultative thermopile was added, and aerobic and thermophilic conditions (60 degrees C) were maintained for 6 hours. After this, the temperature was reduced to 32 degrees C. After cooling to 32 degrees C, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation methodology was employed. Extracts from the cultures of mesophilic organisms were added to the bio-reactor along with viable Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Anaerobic conditions were then maintained for 24-48 hours to give ethanol (yield of up to 45.5 g/l).