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The vinasse, an ethanol by-product, is generated a 10-13 liters rate for every liter of ethanol being an excellent alternative to chemical fertilizers. Mismanagement of vinasse can cause environmental impacts and lower yield quality. This research studied the effect of application of different doses of vinasse with subsurface drip irrigation system. A completely randomized design with 5 treatments and 4 replications were conducted. The harvest was performed cutting the useful area of all the plots and weighing the whole plant and the industrially usable stalks. Ten samples from each plot were sent for technological analyses that were used to calculate the amount of sugar and first generation ethanol. A procedure was adapted from the literature to estimate ethanol production from cellulosic biomass. There was no influence of different doses of vinasse on technological parameters, except on ash content (%A) in the sugarcane juice, being the treatments 3, 4 and 5 higher than treatment 1. The yield of industrially usable stalks and total biomass were influenced by vinasse dose. Sugar and first generation ethanol production per ton of sugarcane were low, but the high biomass productivity compensated the production per hectare. Vinasse can increase ethanol production by increasing biomass, such as observed in this experiment. From the results of this study it can be concluded that vinasse increase %A, biomass and second generation ethanol. High levels of vinasse did not have a negative effect on sugarcane yields and the low level dose is enough to replace part of sugarcane chemical fertilization.