Opportunities and challenges in industrial production of biofuels

Abstract Biomass-derived fuels are emerging as an excellent alternative to fossil fuels due to several associated benefits such as diversification of biomass and renewable and environmentally friendly nature. However, the various challenges associated with the conversion process limit their production. Biomass yield, its storage, and transportation to the energy generation location are the essential parameters for biofuel commercialization. The physicochemical properties and structural variations of biomass significantly influence the production yield. The evolution of biofuel from different feedstock can be classified into four generations. Pretreatment is one of the crucial steps when dealing with complex biomass to improve their utilization. Pretreatment may cause an enhancement in biomass crystallinity, degradation of sugars, formation of inhibitory compounds, and so on, resulting in poor production yields. Enzymatic hydrolysis is essential when the biomass is directed to a fermentation process in deriving liquid biofuel such as bioethanol, biobutanol, and so on. However, the cost, activity, and enzyme contact time are the crucial aspects that need to be considered. Biomass can be converted to liquid or gaseous fuel through different routes of biochemical and thermochemical processes such as fermentation, anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis, gasification, transesterification, and so on. The challenges not only are limited to the production of biofuel but also include their downstream processing, purification steps, and coproduct formation. Water availability and recycling is also an important factor for biofuel production. The impact of biofuel on the environment and economy of the overall process also influences the commercialization of biofuels. In this chapter, the opportunities and challenges associated with biofuel production and their commercialization are discussed.