The overall efficiency, effectiveness, and practicality of potential future energy sources and systems are directly related to many materials-related factors. This volume features 30 papers presented during the 2012 Materials Challenges in Alternative and Renewable Energy Conference. They cover the latest developments involving materials for alternative and renewable energy sources and systems, including batteries and energy storage, hydrogen, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and nuclear, as well as materials availability, the energy grid, and nanocomposites.

This useful, one-stop resource for understanding the most important issues in materials challenges in alternative and renewable energy. The logically organized and carefully selected articles give insight into materials challenges in alternative renewable energy and incorporate the latest developments related to materials challenges in alternative renewable energy, including hydrogen, batteries and energy storage materials, hydropower, and biomass.

RENEWABLE ENERGY INNOVATIONS This critical text, designed for microbiologists, biotechnologists, entrepreneurs, process engineers, chemical engineers, electrical engineers, physicists, and environmentalists, assesses the current knowledge about lab-scale and large-scale production of renewable and sustainable fuels, chemicals, and materials. Global warming is having a huge impact on the world’s ecosystem. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up early, and plant and animal ranges have relocated. On a worldwide scale, the threat posed by climate change and pollution is obvious. A green and sustainable future necessitates using renewable resources to produce fuels, chemicals, and materials. This book investigates diverse bioprocesses that are crucial to everyday life, including the key concerns regarding the generation of biofuels, energy, and food securities, along with waste management. Commercial interest in biotechnological processes has risen to produce pharmaceuticals, health supplements, foodstuffs, biofuels, and chemicals using a biocatalyst such as enzymes, microorganisms, plant cells, or animal cells in a bioreactor. The sustainability of renewable biomass, replacement of depleted fossil fuels, and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from the existing chemical and oil industries are the key benefits of switching to bioproducts. This book discusses bioprocessing to produce biofuels, biobased chemicals, bioproducts, and biomass biorefinery processes. This involves designing novel pretreatment and fractionation technologies for lignocellulose biomass into cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin and the conversion of these streams into biofuels and biobased chemicals via biochemical and thermochemical routes. This book also covers the advancement of oleaginous microorganisms for biofuels and nutraceutical, biological wastewater treatment. Written and edited by authors from leading biotechnology research groups from across the world, this exciting new volume covers all of these technologies, including the basic concepts and the problems and solutions involved with the practical applications in the real world. Whether for the veteran engineer or scientist, student, manager, or another technician working in the field, this volume is essential for any library.

The replacement of fossil-derived compounds by bio-based fuels and chemicals is crucial for the implementation of a sustainable bioeconomy. In this context, microorganisms are key players for biofuels’ production from renewable sources. Biotechnological biofuel production processes require conversion microorganisms capable of both efficiently assimilating renewable low-cost carbon sources and diverting their metabolisms towards the specific biofuel. Exploring the wide diversity of microorganisms available on Earth will surely aid to make the production of green fuels a reality. This book gives a wide overview of different microbial-based processes for green fuels production. The book also includes techno-economic analysis and highlights strategic, commercial and environmental interests in promoting green fuels. All these facts make this book very valuable not only for the scientific community but also for biofuel companies and policy makers.

This book focuses on biogas production by anaerobic digestion, which is the most popular bioenergy technology of today. Using anaerobic digestion for the production of biogas is a sustainable approach that simultaneously also allows the treatment of organic waste. The energy contained in the substrate is released in the form of biogas, which can be employed as a renewable fuel in diverse industrial sectors. Although biogas generation is considered an established process, it continues to evolve, e.g. by incorporating modifications and improvements to increase its efficiency and its downstream applications. The chapters of this book review the progress made related to feedstock, system configuration and operational conditions. It also addresses microbial pathways utilized, as well as storage, transportation and usage of biogas. This book is an up-to-date resource for scientists and students working on improving biogas production.

The Light Metals symposia are a key part of the TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition, presenting the most recent developments, discoveries, and practices in primary aluminum science and technology. Publishing the proceedings from these important symposia, the Light Metals volume has become the definitive reference in the field of aluminum production and related light metal technologies. Light Metals 2011 offers a mix of the latest scientific research findings and applied technology, covering alumina and bauxite, aluminum reduction technology, aluminum rolling, cast shop for aluminum production, electrode technology, and furnace efficiency.

Selected, peer reviewed papers from the 9TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GLOBAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION, “INTER-ACADEMIA 2010”, August 9 to August 12, 2010, in Latvia at the Riga Technical University, Riga