Biofuels and Bioenergy Processes and Technologies

Oil price increases have also increased the level of interest in bioenergy. The rapid rise in the price of crude oil, the decrease in oil reserves, security concerns and greater recognition of the environmental impacts of fossil fuels have generated considerable interest in biofuels as an alternative energy source. Bioenergy is already making a substantial contribution to meeting global energy demand. This contribution can be expanded very significantly in the future, providing greenhouse gas savings and other environmental benefits, as well as contributing to energy security, improving trade balances, providing opportunities for social and economic development in rural communities, and improving the management of resources and wastes. The revolution in transportation that occurred at the beginning of the last century created dependence of Western economies on the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels. Alternative energy sources have become a hot topic in recent years. The supply of fossil fuel, which provides about 95 percent of total energy demand today, will eventually run out in a few decades. By contrast, biomass and biofuel have the potential to become one of the major global primary energy sources along with other alternate energy sources in the years to come. A wide range of additional conversion technologies are under development, offering prospects of improved efficiencies, lower costs and improved environmental performance. Biofuels and Bioenergy Processes and Technologies presents the selected topics on characterization, production, and uses of bioenergy, biofuels, and coproduces. It gives an overview of the amount of energy that can be harvested from the sun for contemporary biomass production, both for food and for bioenergy. This book is intended to provide the readers with current state of art about biomass and bioenergy production and some other environmental technologies such as Wastewater treatment, biosorption and bio-economics, providing recent methodology, current state of modelling and techniques of parameter estimation in gasification process are also presented. Providing an insight into future developments in each field and extensive bibliography, this book will be an essential resource for researchers and academic and industry professionals for reviewing the current state of knowledge on biomass and bioenergy production.