Lignocellulosic plant material is a viable source of biomass to produce alternative energy including ethanol and other biofuels. However, several factors—including toxic by products from biomass pretreatment and poor fermentation of xylose and other pentose sugars—currently limit the efficiency of microbial biofuel production. To begin to understand the genetic basis of desirable traits, we cha...

BACKGROUND While advantages of biofuel have been widely reported, studies also highlight the challenges in large scale production of biofuel. Cost of ethanol and process energy use in cellulosic ethanol plants are dependent on technologies used for conversion of feedstock. Process modeling can aid in identifying techno-economic bottlenecks in a production process. A comprehensive techno-economi...

Methane in soil gas may have undesirable consequences. The soil gas may be able to form a flammable mixture with air and present an explosion hazard. Aerobic biodegradation of the methane in soil gas may consume oxygen that would otherwise be available for biodegradation of gasoline hydrocarbons. The consumption of oxygen by methane may increase the chance of completing a vapor intrusion pathwa...

Catalysts based on ruthenium diphosphine complexes convert methanol/ethanol mixtures to the advanced biofuel isobutanol, with extremely high selectivity (>99%) at good (>75%) conversion via a Guerbet-type mechanism.

Biofuels are meant to be an environmental friendly alternative for the use of fossil fuels. This idea led to the use of subsidies in order to support their production and use. In the USA, the EPA is in charge of establishing mandates to obligated parties and enforcing compliance. Renewable Identification Numbers (" RIN ") are generated for every gallon of biofuel produced in or imported by the ...

Bio-based fuels are the most promising and ecological alternatives to fossil fuels. Sustainable technologies are being developed and applied to biofuel production in order to minimize the costs and the environmental impacts of the system. Wastes produced from ethanol plant have been concerned ethanol producers and environmental protectors due to the negative environmental impacts caused. Challe...

Research is being conducted worldwide to develop new technologies for the generation of liquid fuels from renewable resources. In this context, it was stated recently that “biomass is the only practical source of renewable liquid fuel”. This is of utmost importance for sustainable development. Currently, biodiesel is produced by transesterification of vegetable oils and ethanol by fermentation ...

Biofuels are a new priority in efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels; nevertheless, the rapid increase in production of biofuel feedstock may threaten biodiversity. There are general principles that should be used in developing guidelines for certifying biodiversity-friendly biofuels. First, biofuel feedstocks should be grown with environmentally safe and biodiversity-friendly agricultur...

163 10.4155/BFS.09.11 © 2010 Future Science Ltd Limitations in the current availability of bioenergy feedstocks are a major problem in next-generation biofuels. There are global economic, political and environmental pressures to increase biofuel production and utilization, to offset gasoline and diesel fuel use, especially in the transportation sector. Many countries, such as the USA and China,...

Present energy situation of the world is unsustainable due to unequal geographical distribution of natural wealth as well as environmental, geopolitical and economical concerns. Ever increasing drift of energy consumption due to growth of population, transportation and luxurious lifestyle has motivated researchers to carry out research on biofuel as a sustainable alternative fuel for diesel eng...