The book describes the pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass
for biomass-to-biofuel conversion processes, which is an important step in
increasing ethanol production for biofuels. It also highlights the main
challenges and suggests possible ways to make these technologies feasible for the biofuel industry. The
biological conversion of cellulosic biomass into bioethanol is based on the
chemical and biological breakdown of biomass into aqueous sugars, for example
using hydrolytic enzymes. The fermentable sugars can then be further processed
into ethanol or other advanced biofuels. Pretreatment is required to break down
the lignin structure and disrupt the crystalline structure of cellulose so that
the acids or enzymes can easily access and hydrolyze the cellulose.
Pre-treatment can be the most expensive process in converting biomass to fuel,
but there is great potential for improving the efficiency and lowering costs
through further research and development. This book is aimed at academics and
industrial practitioners who are interested in the higher production of ethanol
for biofuels.