Conversion of biomass to methanol and ethanol

Abstract

The rapid exhaustion of fossil fuels and greenhouse effect leads to work on alternate energy and fuel source. In which, ethanol and methanol are widely discussed as an alternate for fuels over the decade. Fuels derived from the microbial biomass are one of themost promising renewable energy resources when compared to the conventional fuels from the petroleum reserves, which create excessive green gas emissions. The microbes are ubiquitous and many microbes are capable of converting the carbon source into primary metabolites, especially alcohols. Waste material generated from the industries like biodiesel, cassava, paper and pulp industries are rich in carbon and cellulose, which can be utilized by the microbes as carbon and energy source for the production of ethanol and methanol.