The consumption of petroleum has surged during the 20th century, at least partially because of the rise of the automobile industry. Today, fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas provide more than three quarters of the world's energy. Unfortunately, the growing demand for fossil fuel resources comes at a time of diminishing reserves of these nonrenewable resources. The worldwide reserves of oil are sufficient to supply energy and chemicals for only about another 40 years, causing widening concerns about rising oil prices. The use of biomass to produce energy is only one form of renewable energy that can be utilized to reduce the impact of energy production and use on the global environment. Biomass can be converted into three main products such as energy, biofuels and fine chemicals using a number of different processes. Today, it is a great challenge for researchers to find new environmentally benign methodology for biomass conversion, which are industrially profitable as well. This book focuses on the conversion of biomass to biofuels, bioenergy and fine chemicals with the interface of biotechnology, microbiology, chemistry and materials science. An international scientific authorship summarizes the state-of-the-art of the current research and gives an outlook on future developments.

A whole host of motivations are driving the development of the “renewables” industry— ranging from the desire to develop sustainable energy resources to the reduction of dangerous greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. All energy utilized on the earth is ultimately derived from the sun through photosynthesis—the only truly renewable commodity. As concerns regarding increasing energy prices, global warming and renewable resources continue to grow, so has scientific discovery into agricultural biomass conversion. Plant Biomass Conversion addresses both the development of plant biomass and conversion technology, in addition to issues surrounding biomass conversion, such as the affect on water resources and soil sustainability. This book also offers a brief overview of the current status of the industry and examples of production plants being used in current biomass conversion efforts.

This book covers recent developments in process systems engineering (PSE) for efficient resource use in biomass conversion systems. It provides an overview of process development in biomass conversion systems with focus on biorefineries involving the production and coproduction of fuels, heating, cooling, and chemicals. The scope includes grassroots and retrofitting applications. In order to reach high levels of processing efficiency, it also covers techniques and applications of natural-resource (mass and energy) conservation. Technical, economic, environmental, and social aspects of biorefineries are discussed and reconciled. The assessment scales vary from unit- to process- and life-cycle or supply chain levels. The chapters are written by leading experts from around the world, and present an integrated set of contributions. Providing a comprehensive, multi-dimensional analysis of various aspects of bioenergy systems, the book is suitable for both academic researchers and energy professionals in industry.

This book highlights recent progress on the advancements toward optimization of major biorefinery processes, including biomass pretreatment and fractionation, saccharification of sugars, and conversion of sugars and lignin into fuels and chemical precursors. The continual improvement of these processes and their integration in the format of a modern biorefinery is paving the way for a sustainable bio-economy that will displace large portions of petroleum-derived fuels and chemicals with renewable substitutes. Written by leading researchers from academia and well-renowned industry professionals, this book provides a comprehensive review of various aspects related to the recent developments in biomass conversion and biorefinery, aimed at successfully implementing the circular economy principles in various industries.

Introduction to Biomass Energy Conversions explores biomass energy conversions and characterization using practical examples and real-world scenarios. It begins with biomass resource estimation and extends to commercialization pathways for economical biomass conversion into high-value materials, chemicals, and fuels. With extended discussions of new sustainability issues in biofuels production, such as carbon capture and sequestration, the second edition has been updated with carbon footprint work life cycle analysis, the growing circular economy, and newer research directions of biomass resources, such as graphene production from biochar. This book covers thermo-chemical conversion processes, including torrefaction, pyrolysis, gasification and advanced gasification, biomass liquefaction, and combustion. This book is intended for senior undergraduate students taking Renewable Energy Conversions, Bio Energy, Biomass Energy, Introduction to Biofuels, and Sustainability Engineering courses. This book also features end-of-chapter problems, exercises, and case studies with a Solutions Manual available for instructors.

This book highlights the processes of biomass thermochemical conversion, covering topics from combustion and gasification, to pyrolysis and liquefaction. Heat, power, biofuels and green chemicals can all be produced by these thermochemical processes. The different scales of investigation are presented: from the bioenergy chains, to the reactors and molecular mechanisms. The author uses current research and data to present bioenergy chains from forest to final use, including the biomass supply chains, as well as the life cycle assessment of different process chains. Biomass conversion reactors are also presented, detailing their technologies for combustion, gasification and syngas up-grading systems, pyrolysis and bio-oil upgrading. The physical-chemical mechanisms occurring in all these reactors are presented highlighting the main pathways for gas, char and bio-oil formation from biomass. This book offers an overview of biomass valorization for students, engineers or developers in chemistry, chemical, environmental or mechanical engineering.

Nanomaterials in Biomass Conversion: Advances and Applications for Bioenergy, Biofuels and Bio-based Products critically reviews the basic principles through to the latest advances in the emerging field of nanotechnology for the production of biofuels and bioenergy. Divided into 3 parts, the first five chapters explain the fundamentals of nanomaterials, their properties, characterization, and basic processes for synthesis. Part 2, which constitutes the majority of the book, reviews the various methods and technologies for the conversion of biomass to bioenergy, biofuels, and value-added products using nanomaterials. This includes homogeneous and heterogeneous nano-catalytic systems, nano-photocatalytic conversion, nanomaterial-assisted anaerobic digestion, nanoparticles-immobilized enzymes conversion, the production of biogas, volatile fatty acids, and value-added products, and in carbon capture and conversion to sustainable energy products, as well as the potential of nano-biochar, nano-cellulose, and other nanomaterials in microbial fuel cells, bioelectrochemical systems, and batteries. Finally, Part 3 addresses the techno-economics and financial viability in the context of the circular economy, risk related to toxicology, stability, and environmental impacts, and considers the various challenges and future opportunities of biomass conversion through nanomaterials. Nanomaterials in Biomass Conversion is an invaluable resource for researchers and engineers involved in the production of bioenergy, biofuel, and bioproducts, and will also be of benefit to those interested in environmental remediation, pollution management, and cleaner energy production. - Critically examines the role of nanomaterials in the management of waste biomass as applied to bioenergy and biofuels - Explains various nanotechnological methods for the conversion of waste biomass into value-added products - Discusses the basic principles, operational aspects, ongoing developments, and future perspectives related to the applications of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials in biomass conversion - Provides solutions to the key challenges of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials in the conversion of biomass, along with future challenges and risks

The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into renewable fuels and other commodities has provided an appealing alternative towards supplanting global dependence on fossil fuels. The suitability of multitudes of plants for deconstruction to useful precursor molecules and products is currently being evaluated. These studies have probed a variety of phenotypic traits, including cellulose, non-cellulosic polysaccharide, lignin, and lignin monomer composition, glucose and xylose production following enzymatic hydrolysis, and an assessment of lignin-carbohydrate and lignin-lignin linkages, to name a few. These quintessential traits can provide an assessment of biomass recalcitrance, enabling researchers to devise appropriate deconstruction strategies. Plants with high polysaccharide and lower lignin contents have been shown to breakdown to monomeric sugars more readily. Not all plants contain ideal proportions of the various cell wall constituents, however. The capabilities of biotechnology can alleviate this conundrum by tailoring the chemical composition of plants to be more favorable for conversion to sugars, fuels, etc. Increases in the total biomass yield, cellulose content, or conversion efficiency through, for example, a reduction in lignin content, are pathways being evaluated to genetically improve plants for use in manufacturing biofuels and bio-based chemicals. Although plants have been previously domesticated for food and fiber production, the collection of phenotypic traits prerequisite for biofuel production may necessitate new genetic breeding schemes. Given the plethora of potential plants available for exploration, rapid analytical methods are needed to more efficiently screen through the bulk of samples to hone in on which feedstocks contain the desired chemistry for subsequent conversion to valuable, renewable commodities. The standard methods for analyzing biomass and related intermediates and finished products are laborious, potentially toxic, and/or destructive. They may also necessitate a complex data analysis, significantly increasing the experimental time and add unwanted delays in process monitoring, where delays can incur in significant costs. Advances in thermochemical and spectroscopic techniques have enabled the screening of thousands of plants for different phenotypes, such as cell-wall cellulose, non-cellulosic polysaccharide, and lignin composition, lignin monomer composition, or monomeric sugar release. Some instrumental methods have been coupled with multivariate analysis, providing elegant chemometric predictive models enabling the accelerated identification of potential feedstocks. In addition to the use of high-throughput analytical methods for the characterization of feedstocks based on phenotypic metrics, rapid instrumental techniques have been developed for the real-time monitoring of diverse processes, such as the efficacy of a specific pretreatment strategy, or the formation of end products, such as biofuels and biomaterials. Real-time process monitoring techniques are needed for all stages of the feedstocks-to-biofuels conversion process in order to maximize efficiency and lower costs by monitoring and optimizing performance. These approaches allow researchers to adjust experimental conditions during, rather than at the conclusion, of a process, thereby decreasing overhead expenses. This Frontiers Research Topic explores options for the modification of biomass composition and the conversion of these feedstocks into to biofuels or biomaterials and the related innovations in methods for the analysis of the composition of plant biomass, and advances in assessing up- and downstream processes in real-time. Finally, a review of the computational models available for techno-economic modeling and lifecycle analysis will be presented.