This volume presents a timely recognition, warning and mapping of the fast approaching wave, or “bio-tsunami”, of global socio-technical transformation, built by a much wider spectrum of converging powers, including biotechnology, new agriculture, novel foods, health, quality of life, environment, energy, sustainability, education, knowledge management, and design of smart applications. The book contains eight sections corresponding to different clusters of bioeconomic and socio-technical change, as identified by the editors’ “Scanning the Horizon” foresight research; it also offers an integrated view of the future bioeconomy landscape though the convergence of several technologies that affect everyday life. The clusters offer methodologies for forecasting the future bioeconomy, and how these predictions can affect target-setting and the orientation of policies and actions to manage cultural and societal change, and achieve sustainable development in less developed areas. The book will be of interest to researchers, producers, logistics experts, policy makers, regulators, business and financial institutions, and biotechnologists (e.g. geneticists, food experts, etc.).

This book covers the present and future of bioethanol biorefinery technologies. It discusses the efficient use of feedstock in bioethanol production, and critically reviews the environmental sustainability of bioethanol production. In addition, it describes the integrated production of bioelectricity, biopolymers, organic acids, and other biomolecules, as well as the use of process-related liquid and solid byproducts and/or wastes during bioethanol generation. Since the bioethanol industry has also led the automotive industry to explore new avenues, this book summarizes the various aspects of ethanol motorization, hybrid engine development, and biofuel electrification. For decades, clean and renewable alternatives have been sought to reduce dependence on petroleum-based fossil fuels and CO2 emissions. Bioethanol appears as one of the best solutions for the production of biofuels, bioenergy and biochemicals, along with the establishment of new biorefinery concepts and a circular bioeconomy. Therefore, the ideas and technologies presented in this book contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy. This book is a useful reference for postgraduate students and researchers interested in biorefinery and biofuel technologies, both in academia- and commercial laboratories. Early career scientists can use it to fast track into the field. Advanced scientists will find it helpful to gain a broader overview of the field beyond their area of specialization.

This report reviews a number of hybrid technologies that can be deployed to ‘defossilise’ economic sectors and sets out policy options to bring these technologies to commercial scale.

In the past fifteen years, microsimulation models have become firmly established as vital tools for analysis of the distributional impact of changes in governmental programmes. Across Europe, the US, Canada and Australia, microsimulation models are used extensively to assess who are the winners and losers from proposed policy reforms; this is now expanding into new frontiers, both geographically and in terms of policy areas. With contributions from more than 60 international experts, this volume offers a comprehensive introduction to the state of microsimulation internationally, illustrating a wide range of new applications and approaches. It will be of relevance to government policy makers, social policy planners, economists and those concerned with predicting the impact of public policy change and to academics in a variety of disciplines, especially social and public policy, human geography, development studies and economics.

Bioenergy Engineering: Fundamentals, Methods, Modelling, and Applications presents the fundamental principles, recent developments, innovative state-of the-art technologies, challenges, solutions and future perspectives on the production of biofuels and bioenergy. Balancing the scientific and engineering aspects of biofuels production, the book guides readers through the chemical kinetics, modeling, thermodynamics, unit operations and technological advancements in fuel processing from conventional and alternative resources. Each chapter of the book starts with the fundamentals and goes on to assess the latest technologies for the production of renewable fuels on topics. Sections cover biomass utilization, biomass-to-liquid conversion technologies (pyrolysis, liquefaction, solid-state fermentation and submerged fermentation), biomass-to-gas conversion technologies (thermochemical gasification, subcritical and supercritical water gasification, and methanation), gas-to-liquid conversion technologies (Fischer-Tropsch synthesis), carbonization, transesterification, organic transformation, carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom coupling reactions, oxidation, reforming, hydrotreating technologies (hydrogenation, hydrodesulfurization, hydrodenitrogenation, hydro dearomatization and hydro demetalization), nanocatalysis and biocatalysis (enzymatic hydrolysis), and much more. - Analyzes emerging technologies for the sustainable conversion of various waste and non-waste materials into bioenergy and biofuels - Examines a wide range of feedstocks and conversion pathways for liquid and gaseous biofuels - Offers practical guidance and data on how to conduct lifecycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, and utilize GIS modeling for a range production pathways