Bioethanol Production via Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Cellulosic Biomass

Energy availability, supply and use play a central role in the way societies organize themselves, from individual welfare to social and industrial development. By extension, energy accessibility and cost is a determining factor for the economical, political and social interrelations among nations. Considering energy sources, human society has dramatically increased the use of fossil fuels in the past 50 years in a way that the most successful economies are large consumers of oil. However, geopolitical factors related to security of oil supply, high oil prices and serious environmental concerns, prompted by global warming the use of petrol for transportation accounts for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions (Wyman, 1996) have led to a push towards decreased consumption. Indeed, the world's strongest economies are deeply committed to the development of technologies aiming at the use of renewable sources of energy. Within this agenda, the substitution of liquid fuel gasoline by renewable ethanol is of foremost importance.