Synthesis of nanomaterials for biofuel and bioenergy applications

Abstract Biofuel and bioenergy production are envisioned as a promising future to meet the dramatically growing global energy demands. Fossil fuels played a significant role in meeting the energy needs in the last century, only to start becoming depleted around the turn of this century. However useful, burning fossil fuels comes with a heftier price-tag, namely the associated environmental deterioration, fast-changing climatic conditions, and hence a global socioeconomic burden. Bioenergy forms like bioethanol, biodiesel, biohydrogen, and biogas are an alternative, due to their clean energy properties and the use of renewable resources in their production. Many of the known alternative forms of bioenergy productions are the results of interdisciplinary research facades of chemical engineering, bioengineering, and biotechnology. One such recent development is the use of nanomaterials in biofuel and bioenergy production. Due to their high surface to volume ratio, larger surface areas for catalysis, and the feasibility to synthesize hybrids, composite nanomaterials lead to extensive research into the use of nanoparticles for bioenergy production. Additionally, synthetic and natural composite nanomaterials could be used as a support material in biofuel reactors. In this chapter, a detailed account of various reported approaches and techniques, namely physical, chemical, and biological methods in synthesizing nanoparticles for biofuel production are discussed. This chapter also contains an in-depth analysis of the recent trends and feasibility of green nanoparticles for biofuel applications. The chapter further discusses the reported methods of synthesizing new types of hybrid nanoparticles and biocomposite nanomaterials.