Enhanced Biofuel Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass: An Overview of Advanced Physico-Chemical and Biological Technologies

Lignocellulosic biomass has become popular as an untapped source for biofuel production which plays a dual role, i.e., sustainable development and renewable energy production. Biofuels are the alternatives to fossil fuel which are cheap and environmental friendly and also have the capability to reduce energy crisis along with waste management. But, there are some hurdles in direct conversion of lignocellulosic biomass (composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin mainly) to biofuels (i.e., biohydrogen, biogas, bioethanol, biobutanol, etc.). The main problem occurs during the renovation of the lignocellulosic substrate to biofuel with due to the composite nature of lignin. Lignin also prohibits cellulose and hemicellulose to expose to digestion easily by microbial activity. Pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is a pre-requisite to alter the compositional and the structural obstruction of the biomass resulting in an enhanced yield of biofuel. This chapter provides an overview of various lignocellulosic biomass resources along with biofuel production technologies with special reference to physico-chemical and biological technologies.