Process for converting synthesis gas to ethanol, including the steps of 1) introducing synthesis gas, together with methyl ethanoate and/or ethyl ethanoate, into an alcohol synthesis unit to produce methanol and ethanol, 2) separating the methanol from the ethanol of step 1, 3) introducing methanol, from step 2, together with CO, into a carbonylation unit in the presence of a methanol carbonylation catalyst, to produce ethanoic acid, and 4) introducing ethanoic acid, from step 3, together with methanol and/or ethanol, into an esterification unit to produce methyl ethanoate and/or ethyl ethanoate. In step 5), methyl ethanoate and/or ethyl ethanoate, produced in step 4, are fed into the alcohol synthesis unit of step 1, and in step 6) ethanol from step 2 is recovered.