Biotechnological Intercession in Biofuel Production

Abstract

Fossil fuels in large quantities are being used despite their role in increasing environmental problems. Worldwide usages of biomass-based biofuels are necessary for environment preservation and development of sustainable communities. Therefore, to move from an economy zone that is dependent on nonrenewable sources of energy to one with advanced multiplicity of renewable sources will definitely not be an effortless progression. It will rather require investment of imperative exploration efforts to get adapted to dynamics of a varying energy market, make cost-effective progressions, and evade overlap with shared significance markets, such as, agriculture, food, and livestock production. Research and development projects working toward production of biofuels are mainly targeted at conversion of plant/microbial biomass to renewable fluidized fuels. Foremost challenges encountered for the production of biofuels include lack of domestication of biofuel crops, low oil/fatty acid produced from biofuel plants/microbes, 256as well as of lignocellulose recalcitrance to chemical and enzymatic breakdown. Day by day, research on genetic, genomic resources available for plant/microbial enhancement, elucidation of lipid metabolism to assist exploitation of fatty acid biosynthetic approach and phyto cell wall biosynthesis and assemblage all over the world are broadening. The knowledge so brought to the forefront will be used for the production of next generation biofuels by mounting fatty acid concentration and by optimizing hydrolysis of phyto cell walls to liberate fermentable sugars. This chapter briefly describes the biotechnological interventions that can make major advancements in strain improvement for commercial scale production of biofuels.