Abstract
Increasing concerns for security of the fossil fuel supply emphasizes the need to complement fossil fuel-based energy sources with renewable energy sources. Plant biomass represents an abundant renewable resource for the production of bioenergy and biomaterials. This review summarizes the last advancements in the use of biotechnological tools to improve bioethanol production from plant biomass through genetic engineering the starch content and composition and lignocellulosic matter characteristics, and increasing the capacity of plants to produce harvestable yield and ameliorating the negative abiotic stresses on plants so as to increase yield.
Highlights
The production of ethanol for use as a transportation fuel is not a new technology
Renewed interest in ethanol as fuel developed in the 1970s (BOTHAST and SCHLICHER, 2005)
STARK et al (1992) demonstrated an increase of up to 135% of control starch content was obtained following the constitutive expression of a regulatory variant of bacterial ADPglucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase)
Summary
The production of ethanol for use as a transportation fuel is not a new technology. Post World War II, the interest in the use of agricultural crops for ethanol production dropped, mainly because of the availability of cheap and abundant fuel from fossil sources. It is understood, that it is important to use plant biomass energy, that would complement solar, wind, and other intermittent energy sources. Most agricultural biomass containing starch or sucrose can be used as a substrate for ethanol fermentation by microbial processes. These “energy crops” include maize (corn), wheat, rice, potato, cassava, sugarcane and sugarbeet. This article will review the latest advancements in the research and development focused on these two topics
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