Potential of lignocellulosic materials for production of ethanol

Abstract

Increasing greenhouse gases, mainly due to anthropogenic causes, are the major cause of climate change. The need for renewable fuels is becoming paramount largely because of environmental reasons. Presently ethanol and biodiesel are predominantly produced from corn kernels, sugarcane, or soybean oil which might create food vs fuel competition and destabilize land use pattern for agriculture. Recently cellulosic biofuels and algal biodiesels are prominent biological approaches to sequester and convert CO 2 . In order to avoid this biofuel feedstock, lignocelluloses-the most abundant biological material on earth-are being explored. Lignocelluloses are omnipresent-wheat straw, corn husks, prairie grass, discarded rice hulls, or trees. The race is on to optimize the technology that can produce biofuels from lignocellulose sources more efficiently-and biotech companies are in the run. There is a campaign which advocates that 25% of US energy come from arable land by 2025. Present review attempts in presenting state-of-the-art report on biofuel production from lignocellulosic materials.