TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The step of converting includes hydrogasification of solid and/or liquid carbonaceous materials to obtain a process gas, which is a steam pyrolyzed to form the syngas. The step of reducing occurs in the presence of a catalyst comprising cobalt and molybdenum, and a second metal on a catalyst support, where the cobalt is present at 0.1-20 wt.%, and the second metal is palladium, platinum (both preferred) or chromium. In the process, selectivity to ethanol based on acetic acid consumed is at least 40%, preferably 95%. The step of reducing is carried out at a temperature of 225-275 degrees C. Preferred Components: The catalyst support is silica, alumina, calcium silicate, carbon, zirconia or titania. The loading of cobalt is 4-12 wt.%, the loading of palladium is 0.5-2 wt.%, the loading of platinum is 0.5-2 wt.%, and the catalyst support is graphite or high purity silica. The cobalt is present at 1-15 wt.%. EXAMPLE - Powdered and meshed graphite (100 g) having uniform particle size distribution of 0.2 mm was dried at 120 degrees C in an oven under nitrogen atmosphere overnight and then cooled to room temperature. To this was added a solution of palladium nitrate (2.2 g) in distilled water (22 ml) to afford catalyst having cobalt (10 wt.%) and palladium (1 wt.%). The catalyst was arranged in a tubular reactor made of stainless steel, having an internal diameter of 30 mm. The length of the catalyst bed after charging was 70 mm. A feed liquid was comprised essentially of acetic acid. The reaction feed liquid was evaporated and charged to the reactor along with hydrogen and helium as a carrier gas with an average combined gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 2500 hour-1 at a temperature of 250 degrees C and a pressure of 22 bar. The resulting feed stream contained acetic acid (4.4-13.8 mol.%) and hydrogen (14-77 mol.%). A portion of the vapor effluent was passed through a gas chromatograph for analysis of the contents of the effluents and worked up to afford the ethanol.