Chapter 9 - Lignocellulosic biomass as an alternate source for next-generation biofuel

Abstract

Biofuel is a form of bioenergy derived from biological sources such as carbohydrate biowaste. Many types of waste from natural resources were a good substrate for biofuel production. The presence of sugars in this substrate is used by microorganisms to produce a variety of vital energies (such as bioethanol, butane, and biogas). In natural biowaste, lignocellulosic waste acts as a useful substrate for the production of next-generation biofuels. Because of its structure (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin), there are a lot of sugar molecules. Classification of biofuels will be of three types such as first, second, and third generation, respectively. Food crops such as sugarcane, cereals, and maize are the main sources used for the production of first-generation biofuels. Examples of first-generation biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel. Biofuels produced from inedible lignocellulosic waste were considered second-generation biofuels. Here, agricultural wastes and wastes from the forest come under lignocellulosic biowaste. These substrates played a key role in the production of second-generation biofuels. Third-generation biofuels were mostly produced from algae biomass. Two types of methods (biological and thermochemical) were used to convert lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels. This study mainly focuses on current research based on the production of next-generation biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass and its alternative methods.