The main objectives of this research consist in achieving both experimental and numerical studies of the combustion and oxidation of ethanol. Experimental mole fraction profiles of chemical species (stable, radical, and intermediates) were measured in three C2H5OH/O-2/Ar flat premixed flames stabilized at low pressure (50 mbar) and with equivalence ratios equal to 0.75, 1, and 1.25, respectively. The experimental setup used to determine the structure of one-dimensional laminar premixed flames consists of a molecular beam mass spectrometer system (MBMS) combined with electron impact ionization (El). The oxidation of ethanol was also experimentally studied using a fused silica jet-stirred reactor (JSR). Experiments were performed in the temperature range 890-1250 K, at 1 atm, at four equivalence ratios equal to 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2 and with an initial fuel concentration of 2000 ppm. A kinetic study was conducted in order to simulate all experimental data measured. It enabled building a kinetic mechanism by thoroughly reviewing the available literature and by taking into account specificities of the two kinds of experiments performed. Validity of the mechanism was also checked against experimental results previously published (ethanol oxidation in a JSR at 10 atm, ignition in a shock tube, combustion in premixed, partially-premixed, and non-premixed flames). This mechanism ensures a reasonably good modelling of the combustion and oxidation of ethanol over the wide range of experimental conditions investigated. (C) 2010 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.