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.