Bioethanol Production: Future Prospects from Non-traditional Sources in India

Abstract

Production of fuels, especially bio-ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass, holds remarkable potential to meet the current energy demand as well as to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions for a sustainable clean environment. Present technologies to produce bioethanol largely depend on sugarcane and/or starch based food materials. The use of sugarcane and food grains to produce bio-ethanol has caused significant stress on food prices and food security. In this regard the non-edible biomass resources such as fruit waste, agriculture residues, oil cakes, Bamboo etc have been considered suitable for ethanol production.The process of ethanol production generally involves hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars followed by fermentation of such sugars to ethanol. To achieve fermentable levels of sugars from lignocellulosic biomass require relatively harsh pretreatment processes. The pretreatment process has pervasive impact on the overall operation because the process depends on the choice of lignocellulosic source, the size reduction via grinding, chemical treatment, acid hydrolysis, neutralization and fermentation. The present paper deals with the bioethanol production from different substrates. It reviews information about current practices and also suggests future prospects in India.