Bioethanol Production from Lignocellulosic Waste-A Review

Abstract

Petroleum and other fossil fuel has been the main energy source for a long period of time in human life. Through these energy sources, the world has been a developing and industrializing entity. However, it is agreed that these traditional sources of energy cannot remain forever as they are non-renewable. Many experts predicted that oil production will keep on decreasing, as the present oil wells keep on decreasing and fewer oil reserves are discovered. This led to increasing price of the minerals and eventually makes them economically unsustainable. As such, renewable source of energy has to be sourced. Bioethanol; a renewable energy source is being produced from food materials such as sugar cane, maize etc. However, if these are to be used for energy production, the world will be entering into another crisis as they will be competed for food and energy. Lignocellulosic wastes such as Rice straw, Wheat straw, Corn straw and Bagasse contain same sugar molecules for bioethanol production as such can be used to generate renewable energy using appropriate physical, chemical and biological techniques. This paper aims at exploring the process of bioethanol production from lignocellulosic wastes.

Straw Stocks as a Source of Renewable Energy. A Case Study of a District in Poland

“…Until the present, it has been impossible to make liquid biofuels from non-food cellulose plant feedstocks on the industrial scale due to economic and technological barriers [41,42]. Researchers all over the world pay more attention to the development of a technology for production of cellulose-based ethanol using regional stocks of biomass, which would decrease the cost of raw materials and improve the efficiency of such technology, leaving the smallest possible trace in the natural environment [35,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57].…”

Studies on efficient utilization of fruit peel waste for Bio-Ethanol production

“…Overall studies are efficiently seen in utilizing the waste material to the value addition to the product. Acid pre-treatment is often used for high yield of simplesugars from lignocellulosic biomass through hydrolysis which is generally used through concentrated or diluted acids [Mohanty and Abdullah, 2016] [30] . Strong acids such as sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid and hydrochloric acid have been widely used for treating lignocellulosic biomass because of powerful action on cellulose hydrolysis and no enzymes are needed subsequent to the acid hydrolysis [Harmsen et al, 2010] [31] .…”

Cellulases: From Lignocellulosic Biomass to Improved Production

“…Lignocellulose biomass includes agricultural waste (such as rice straw, wheat straw, corn straw, baggase, etc.) [11], forestry or wood waste [12], and cellulose waste (such as paper).…”