The world is currently faced with two significant problems: fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation, which are continuously being exacerbated due to increasing global energy consumption. As a substitute for petroleum, renewable fuels have been receiving increasing attention due a variety of environmental, economic, and societal benefits. The first-generation biofuels - ethanol from sugar or corn and biodiesel from vegetable oils - are already on the market. The goal of this book is to introduce readers to second-generation biofuels obtained from non-food biomass, such as forest residue, agricultural residue, switch grass, corn stover, waste wood, municipal solid wastes, and so on. Various technologies are discussed, including cellulosic ethanol, biomass gasification, synthesis of diesel and gasoline, bio-crude by hydrothermal liquefaction, bio-oil by fast pyrolysis, and the upgradation of biofuel. This book strives to serve as a comprehensive document presenting various technological pathways and environmental and economic issues related to biofuels.

The world is currently faced with two significant problems: fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation, which are continuously being exacerbated due to increasing global energy consumption. As a substitute for petroleum, renewable fuels have been receiving increasing attention due a variety of environmental, economic, and societal benefits. The first-generation biofuels - ethanol from sugar or corn and biodiesel from vegetable oils - are already on the market. The goal of this book is to introduce readers to second-generation biofuels obtained from non-food biomass, such as forest residue, agricultural residue, switch grass, corn stover, waste wood, municipal solid wastes, and so on. Various technologies are discussed, including cellulosic ethanol, biomass gasification, synthesis of diesel and gasoline, bio-crude by hydrothermal liquefaction, bio-oil by fast pyrolysis, and the upgradation of biofuel. This book strives to serve as a comprehensive document presenting various technological pathways and environmental and economic issues related to biofuels.

Advanced Biofuel Technologies: Present Status, Challenges and Future Prospects deals with important issues such as feed stock availability, technology options, greenhouse gas reduction as seen by life cycle assessment studies, regulations and policies. This book provides readers complete information on the current state of developments in both thermochemical and biochemical processes for advanced biofuels production for the purpose of transportation, domestic and industrial applications. Chapters explore technological innovations in advanced biofuels produced from agricultural residues, algae, lipids and waste industrial gases to produce road transport fuels, biojet fuel and biogas. - Covers technologies and processes of different types of biofuel production - Outlines a selection of different types of renewable feedstocks for biofuel production - Summarizes adequate and balanced coverage of thermochemical and biochemical methods of biomass conversion into biofuel - Includes regulations, policies and lifecycle and techno-economic assessments

This book aims to provide the reader with useful information in the realm of biofuels such as biogas, biodiesel and bioethanol. This book is hoped to contribute to the consolidation of knowledge in the different fields. It briefly describes the use of biofuels just to use them as a source of energy. The expected energy produced can be used to replace energy obtained from nonrenewable fossil fuels such as petroleum. The problems caused from burning of fossil fuels such as petroleum, fire wood consumption which leads to deforestation, the health effects of humans as well as environment problems such as global warming, occurs due to the emission of greenhouse gases aspires me to write this book entitled as Biodiesel, Bio-ethanol and Biogas as an Alternative fuels. Generally, this book deals with the process of producing Biogas, Bio-ethanol and Biodiesel besides, the factors affecting the production of all these renewable energy sources. Based on this fact, anyone in the world can buy this book and use it as a reference book, to produce these energy sources from different wastes.

This book addresses microalgae, which represent a very promising biomass resource for wastewater treatment and producing biofuels. Accordingly, microalgae are also an expanding sector in biofuels and wastewater treatment, as can be seen in several high-profile start-ups from around the globe, including Solix Biofuels, Craig Venter’s Synthetic Genomics, PetroSun, Chevron Corporation, ENN Group etc. In addition, a number of recent studies and patent applications have confirmed the value of modern microalgae for biofuels production and wastewater treatment systems. However, substantial inconsistencies have been observed in terms of system boundaries, scope, the cultivation of microalgae and oil extraction systems, production costs and economic viability, cost-lowering components, etc. Moreover, the downstream technologies and core principles involved in liquid fuel extraction from microalgae cells are still in their early stages, and not always adequate for industrial production. Accordingly, multilateral co-operation between universities, research institutes, governments, stakeholders and researchers is called for in order to make microalgae biofuels economical. Responding to this challenge, the book begins with a general introduction to microalgae and the algae industry, and subsequently discusses all major aspects of microalgal biotechnology, from strain isolation and robust strain development, to biofuel development, refinement and wastewater treatment.

The demand for renewable energies from biomass is growing steadily as policies are enacted to encourage such development and as industry increasingly sees an opportunity to develop bio-energy enterprises. Recent policy changes in the EU, USA and other countries are spurring interest in the cultivation of energy crops such as switchgrass. Switchgrass has gained and early lead in the race to find a biomass feedstock for energy production (and for the almost requisite need for bio-based products from such feedstocks). Switchgrass: A Valuable Biomass Crop for Energy provides a comprehensive guide to the biology, physiology, breeding, culture and conversion of switchgrass as well as highlighting various environmental, economic and social benefits. Considering this potential energy source, Switchgrass: A Valuable Biomass Crop for Energy brings together chapters from a range of experts in the field, including a foreword from Kenneth P. Vogel, to collect and present the environmental benefits and characteristics of this a crop with the potential to mitigate the risks of global warming by replacing fossil fuels. Including clear figures and tables to support discussions, Switchgrass: A Valuable Biomass Crop for Energy provides a solid reference for anyone with interest or investment in the development of bioenergy; researchers, policy makers and stakeholders will find this a key resource.

Conversion of biomass into chemicals and biofuels is an active research and development area as trends move to replace traditional fossil fuels with renewable resources. By integrating processing methods with ultrasound and microwave irradiation into biorefineries, the time-scale of many operations can be greatly reduced while the efficiency of the reactions can be remarkably increased so that process intensification can be achieved. “Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Ultrasound” and “Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Microwave” are two independent volumes in the Biofuels and Biorefineries series that take different, but complementary approaches for the pretreatment and chemical transformation of biomass into chemicals and biofuels. The volume “Ultrasound” provides current research advances and prospects in mechanistic principles of acoustic cavitation in sonochemistry, physical and chemical mechanisms in biofuel synthesis, reactor design for transesterification and esterification reactions, lipid extraction from algal biomass, microalgae extraction, biodiesel and bioethanol synthesis, practical technologies and systems, pretreatment of biomass waste sources including lignocellulosic materials, manures and sludges for biogas production, vibration-assisted pelleting, combined chemical-mechanical methods, valorization of starch-based wastes and techno-economic methodology. Each of the 12 chapters has been peer-reviewed and edited to improve both the quality of the text and the scope and coverage of the topics. Both volumes “Ultrasound” and “Microwave” are references designed for students, researchers, academicians and industrialists in the fields of chemistry and chemical engineering and include introductory chapters to highlight present concepts of the fundamental technologies and their application. Dr. Zhen Fang is Professor in Bioenergy, Leader and founder of biomass group, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden and is also adjunct Professor of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China. Dr. Richard L Smith, Jr. is Professor of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Research Center of Supercritical Fluid Technology, Tohoku University, Japan. Dr. Xinhua Qi is Professor of Environmental Science, Nankai University, China.