Sustainable Biofuels: Opportunities and Challenges

Sustainable Biofuels: Opportunities and challenges, a volume in the “Applied Biotechnology Reviews” series, explores the state-of-the-art in research and applied technology for the conversion of all types of biofuels. Its chapters span a broad spectrum of knowledge, from fundamentals and technical aspects to optimization, combinations, economics, and environmental aspects. They cover various facets of research, production, and commercialization of bioethanol, biodiesel, biomethane, biohydrogen, biobutanol, and biojet fuel. This book discusses biochemical, thermochemical, and hydrothermal conversion of unconventional feedstocks, including the role of biotechnology applications to achieve efficiency and competitiveness. Through case studies, techno-economic analysis and sustainability assessment, including life cycle assessment, it goes beyond technical aspects to provides actual resources for better decision-making during the development of commercially viable technology by researchers, PhD students, and practitioners in the field of bioenergy. It is also a useful resource for those in adjacent areas, such as biotechnology, industrial microbiology, chemical engineering, environmental engineering, and sustainability science, who are working on solutions for the bioeconomy. The ability to compare different technologies and their outcome that this book provides is also beneficial for energy analysts, consultants, planners, and policy-makers.

The “Applied Biotechnology Reviews” series highlights current development and research in biotechnology-related fields, combining in single-volume works the theoretical aspects and real-world applications for better decision-making.

• Covers current technologies and advancements in biochemical, thermochemical, and hydrothermal conversion methods for production of various types of biofuels from conventional and nonconventional feedstock
• Examines biotechnology processes, including genetic engineering of microorganisms and substrates, applied to biofuel production
• Bridges the gap between technology development and prospects of commercialization of bioprocesses, including policy and economics of biofuel production, biofuel value chains, and how to accomplish cost-competitive results and sustainable development

Dr. Ramesh C. Ray is a former Principal Scientist (Microbiology) and Head of the ICAR- Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (Regional Centre), Bhubaneswar, India. He has 35 years of research experiences in agriculture and food microbiology, published 140 research and review papers in international journals, 63 books chapters, edited 14 books and authored 3 books and received more than 4400 citations. He has more than 40 research papers, book chapters and review articles concerning lactic fermentation of roots and tuber crops (please see the CV). He is a distinguished fellow of the prestigious National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi, India and 10 other scientific societies. Currently, he is Director of Centre for Food Biology & Environmental Studies, a non-government organization at Bhubaneswar, India.