NOVELTY - Making a product involves: modifying manufacturing facility that was built to produce ethanol exclusively from grain/corn sweetener, sucrose or lactose by adding lignocellulosic saccharification unit to the facility; further modifying facility by adding electron beam irradiation equipment to facility; transporting lignocellulosic starting material to modified facility; irradiating material using electron beam irradiation equipment, where irradiated material has lower level of recalcitrance than the starting material; and converting irradiated material to product by using the unit.    USE - For making a product (comprising energy, fuel, food, material, alcohol such as ethanol and sugar) (claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The method provides low dosage of radiation, while still providing adequate results, in order to minimize energy consumption and resulting cost. The method processes carbon-containing materials such as biomass (e.g. plant biomass, animal biomass and municipal waste biomass) or coal to produce useful products such as fuels. The method uses feedstock materials such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials and/or starchy materials to produce ethanol.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Making a product involves: modifying a manufacturing facility that was built to produce ethanol exclusively from grain or from corn sweetener, sucrose or lactose by adding a lignocellulosic saccharification unit to the facility; further modifying the manufacturing facility by adding electron beam irradiation equipment to the manufacturing facility; transporting a lignocellulosic starting material to the modified manufacturing facility; irradiating the lignocellulosic starting material by exposure to irradiation from the electron beam irradiation equipment, and irradiating the material with at least 10 Mrad of radiation, thereby producing an irradiated lignocellulosic material, where the irradiated lignocellulosic material has a lower level of recalcitrance than the lignocellulosic starting material; converting the irradiated lignocellulosic material to a product by utilizing the lignocellulosic saccharification unit thereby producing a product.