▶ Addresses a wide range of timely environment, economic and energy topics ▶ A forum to review, analyze and stimulate the development, testing and implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies at regional, national and global scales ▶ Contributes to real-time policy analysis and development as national and international policies and agreements are discussed and promulgated ▶ 94% of authors who answered a survey reported that they would definitely publish or probably publish in the journal again

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change

Due to increasing population and industrialization, the demand of energy is increasing day by day. Simultaneously, the worldwide bio-ethanol production is increasing constantly. The maize, sugarcane and sugar beets are major traditional agricultural crops used as bio-ethanol production but these crops are unable to meet the global demand of bio-ethanol production due to their primary value of food and feed. Hence, cellulosic materials such as agro-residues are attractive feedstock for bio-ethanol production. The cellulosic material is the most abundant biomass and agro-residues on the earth. Bio-ethanol from agro-residues could be a promising technology that involves four processes of pre-treatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation and distillation. These processes have several challenges and limitations such as biomass transport and handling, and efficient pre-treatment process for removing the lignin from the lignocellulosic agro-residues. Proper pre-treatment process may increase the concentrations of fermentable sugars after enzymatic hydrolysis, thereby improving the efficiency of the whole process. Others, efficient microbes and genetically modified microbes may also enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis. Conversion of cellulose to ethanol requires some new pre-treatment, enzymatic and fermentation technologies, to make the whole process cost effective. In this review, we have discussed about current technologies for sustainable bioethanol production from agro-residues.

Sustainable bio-ethanol production from agro-residues: A review

Environmental issues, the growing demand for energy, political concerns and the medium-term depletion of petroleum has created the need for development of sustainable technologies based on renewable raw materials. Biofuels might help to meet the future energy supply demands as well as contributing to a reduction of green house gas emissions. Although this topic is highly controversial and many investigations are currently ongoing, this review is intended to give a brief overview about certain aspects of the complex biofuel issue, providing the latest update of the production and potential of biofuels in the transport sector including types of biofuel, feedstocks and technologies and some of the possible socio-economic, environmental and political implications of the widespread use of biofuels in our society.

Biofuels: a technological perspective

The major contributor to global warming is human-generated greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions that pollute the air. GHGs emissions are a global issue dominated by emission of carbon dioxide (CO2). Notably, CO2 accounts for an estimated 77% of GHGs and thus has a huge impact on the environment. The capture, sequestration, and utilization of CO2 emissions from flue gas are now becoming familiar worldwide. These methods are a promising solution to promote sustainability for the benefit of future generations. Previously, many researchers have focused on capturing and storing CO2; however, less effort has been spent on finding ways to utilize flue gas emissions. Moreover, several issues must be overcome in the field of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology, especially regarding the cost, capacity of storage and the durability of the storage reservoir. In addition, this paper addresses new technology in carbon capture and sequestration. To make CCS technology more feasible, this paper suggests a sustainable method combining CCS and biofuel production using CO2 as a feedstock. This method offers many advantages, such as CO2 emission mitigation and energy security through the production of renewable energy. Due to the many advantages of biofuels, the conversion of CO2 into biofuel is a best practice and may provide a solution to pollution while encouraging sustainability practises.

Pollution to solution: Capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) and its utilization as a renewable energy source for a sustainable future

This review is a summary of different aspects of the design and operation of small-scale, household, biogas digesters. It covers different digester designs and materials used for construction, important operating parameters such as pH, temperature, substrate, and loading rate, applications of the biogas, the government policies concerning the use of household digesters, and the social and environmental effects of the digesters. Biogas is a value-added product of anaerobic digestion of organic compounds. Biogas production depends on different factors including: pH, temperature, substrate, loading rate, hydraulic retention time (HRT), C/N ratio, and mixing. Household digesters are cheap, easy to handle, and reduce the amount of organic household waste. The size of these digesters varies between 1 and 150 m 3 . The common designs include fixed dome, floating drum, and plug flow type. Biogas and fertilizer obtained at the end of anaerobic digestion could be used for cooking, lighting, and electricity.

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/5/8/2911/pdf

Household Biogas Digesters—A Review

Diversification of energy sources, agricultural activities and a higher percentage of locally produced energy are goals that can be satisfied by biofuels Biofuels such as biogas, biodiesel, and bioethanol may be easier to commercialise than other alternative fuels, considering performance, infrastructure and other factors Lack of a good understanding and application of key concepts of cost estimation—a key to successful project which impacts both the project profitability and influences the technical solutions—is a foremost barrier to its commercialisation in Africa, despite the availability of biomass resources A plethora of other generic technological and non-technological constrictions has been identified to also hinder biofuels adoption and development Understanding the economics of biofuel industry is, therefore, crucial in realising eventual commercialisation This article provides knowledge-based review for expansion (commercialisation) of biomass-derived fuel (biofuel) through improved understanding of its economics in Africa In addition, recommendations to overcome the technological and non-technological hurdles to market penetration of biofuels are discussed

/pdf/commercialisation-of-biofuel-industry-in-africa-a-review-4m2urvlnnj.pdf

R. Sigamoney

Papers

Commercialisation of biofuel industry in Africa: A review