Bio fuel
Biofuels are best defined as non-fossil derived liquid and gaseous fuels that are derived by biochemical and thermochemical conversion from agricultural plant feedstocks. Until recently most of the focus on the production of biofuels relied on the use of conventional commodity crops such as cereal grains, sweet sugar beets and sugarcane and to a lesser extent on starches and sugar syrups derived from other food crops as well as oilseed oils. These biofuels are often referred to as 1st generation or Gen 1 fuels. The controversy over the reliance on food crops for biofuels has increased interest in the use of alternative feedstocks such as crop residues, plant processing wastes, oilseed processing wastes, other animal solid and liquid wastes and dedicated energy crops for the production of biofuels. The biofuels derived from lignocellulosic plant feedstocks by biochemical conversion are often referred to as Gen 1.5 or Gen 2 while biofuels derived by thermochemical or chemical conversion from all of the above feedstocks are often referred to as Advanced Biofuels. These definitions are described in RFS2 legislation that is relied on by proponents of new biofuels and the EPA in RINS credit determination (Abbas, 2015). Reducing the cost of production of advanced biofuels and cellulosic ethanol continues to be an active area of research. Beyond addressing supply chain logistics and handling of some of feedstocks, the development of cost effective enzymes, robust fermentation microorganisms, improved cost effective chemical catalysts and increased value from byproducts produced (lignin).

References

Abbas, C.A. (2003). Lignocellulosics to ethanol: meeting ethanol demand in the future. In: The Alcohol Textbook, 4th Edition. K.A. Jacques, T.P. Lyons and D.R. Kelsall, Eds. Nottingham University Press, Nottingham, UK, pp.41-57.

Abbas, C.A. (2010). Going against the grain: food versus fuel uses of cereals.” Proceedings of the Worldwide Distilled Spirits Conference. New Horizons: Energy, Environmental and Enlightenment. Chapter 2, 9-18.

Abbas, C.A. (2015). Recent developments in the technology for fuel and beverage alcohol production. In: Distilled Spirits: New Horizons: Energy, Environment and Enlightenment, Proceedings of the 5th Worldwide Distilled Spirits Conference. Edited by Goodall, I., Fotheringham, R., Murray, D. Speers, R.A. and Walker G. M. Context Products, LTD, Leicestershire, UK, pp. 289-302.

Abbas, C.A., Bao, W.L., Beery, K.E., Corrington, P., Cruz, C., Loveless, L., Sparks, M. and K. Trei (2010). Bioethanol Production from Lignocllulosics-Some Process Considerations and Procedures. In: Click to Close Manual of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, 3rd Edition, R.H. Blatz, J. E. Davies, and A. Demain, Eds. Wiley Books, pp. 621-633.

Abbas, C. A. and D. Fanselow (2017). Membrane Processes for Alcohol Recovery. In: The Alcohol Textbook, 6th Edition. G. Walker, C. Abbas, M. Ingeldew, and C. Pilgrim. Chapter 28. Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits, USA, pp. 441-454.

Abbas, C.A. and K. Langfelder (2017). Production of cellulosic ethanol at existing ethanol plants” In: The Alcohol Textbook, 6th Edition. G. Walker, C. Abbas, M. Ingeldew, and C. Pilgrim. Chapter 16..Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits, USA, pp. 237-256.

Dmytruk, K.V., Kurylenko, O. O., Ruchala, J. , Abbas, C. A. and A. A. Sibirny. (2017). Genetic improvement of conventional and non-conventional yeasts for the production of 1st and 2nd generation ethanol. In: “Biotechnology of Yeasts and Filamentous Fungi” Andriy A. Sibirny Ed. Chapter1. Springer International Publishing AG, Switzerland, pp. 1-38.

Gander, J., Bonetti, S., J. Brouilette, J. and C. A. Abbas (1993). Depolymerization of structural polymers: use of phosphodiesterases and glycohydrolases.” Biomass and Bioenergy 5: 35-51.

Himmel, M.E., Abbas, C.A., Baker,J.O., Bayer, E.A., Bomble, Y.L.,R. Brunecky,R., Chen,X., Felby, C., Jeoh,T., R. Kumar,R., McCleary, B.V., Pletschke,B.I., Tucker, M.P., Wyman,C.E., and S. R. Decker (2017).Undefined cellulase formulations hinder scientific reproducibility. Biotechnol Biofuels 10:283 DOI 10.1186/s13068-017-0974-y.