I read this book the same weekend that the Packers took on the Rams, and the experience of the latter event, obviously, colored my judgment. Although I abhor anything that smacks of being a handbook (like, \"How to Earn a Merit Badge in Neurosurgery\") because too many volumes in biomedical science already evince a boyscout-like approach, I must confess that parts of this volume are fast, scholarly, and significant, with certain reservations. I like parts of this well-illustrated book because Dr. Sj6strand, without so stating, develops certain subjects on technique in relation to the acquisition of judgment and sophistication. And this is important! So, given that the author (like all of us) is somewhat deficient in some areas, and biased in others, the book is still valuable if the uninitiated reader swallows it in a general fashion, realizing full well that what will be required from the reader is a modulation to fit his vision, propreception, adaptation and response, and the kind of problem he is undertaking. A major deficiency of this book is revealed by comparison of its use of physics and of chemistry to provide understanding and background for the application of high resolution electron microscopy to problems in biology. Since the volume is keyed to high resolution electron microscopy, which is a sophisticated form of structural analysis, but really morphology in a modern guise, the physical and mechanical background of The instrument and its ancillary tools are simply and well presented. The potential use of chemical or cytochemical information as it relates to biological fine structure , however, is quite deficient. I wonder when even sophisticated morphol-ogists will consider fixation a reaction and not a technique; only then will the fundamentals become self-evident and predictable and this sine qua flon will become less mystical. Staining reactions (the most inadequate chapter) ought to be something more than a technique to selectively enhance contrast of morphological elements; it ought to give the structural addresses of some of the chemical residents of cell components. Is it pertinent that auto-radiography gets singled out for more complete coverage than other significant aspects of cytochemistry by a high resolution microscopist, when it has a built-in minimal error of 1,000 A in standard practice? I don't mean to blind-side (in strict football terminology) Dr. Sj6strand's efforts for what is \"routinely used in our laboratory\"; what is done is usually well done. It's just that …

Methods in Enzymology.

Lignocellulosic biomass: a sustainable platform for the production of bio-based chemicals and polymers

Trends in bioconversion of lignocellulose: Biofuels, platform chemicals & biorefinery concept

Fossil fuel consumption in transportation system and energy-intensive sectors as the principal pillar of civilization is associated with progressive release of greenhouse gases. Hydrogen as a promising energy carrier is a perfect candidate to supply the energy demand of the world and concomitantly reduce toxic emissions. This article gives an overview of the state-of-the-art hydrogen production technologies using renewable and sustainable energy resources. Hydrogen from supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of biomass is the most cost effective thermochemical process. Highly moisturized biomass is utilized directly in SCWG without any high cost drying process. In SCWG, hydrogen is produced at high pressure and small amount of energy is required to pressurize hydrogen in the storage tank. Tar and char formation decreases drastically in biomass SCWG. The low efficiency of solar to hydrogen system as well as expensive photovoltaic cell are the most important barriers for the widespread commercial development of solar-based hydrogen production. Since electricity costs play a crucial role on the final hydrogen price, to generate carbon free hydrogen from solar and wind energy at a competitive price with fossil fuels, the electrical energy cost should be four times less than commercial electricity prices.

Hydrogen production from renewable and sustainable energy resources: Promising green energy carrier for clean development

The demand for petroleum dependent chemicals and materials has been increasing despite the dwindling of their fossil resources. As the dead-end of petroleum based industry has started to appear, today's modern society has to implement alternative energy and valuable chemical resources immediately. Owing to the importance of lignocellulosic biomass being the most abundant and bio-renewable biomass on earth, this critical review provides insights into the potential of lignocellulosic biomass as an alternative platform to fossil resources. In this context, over 200 value-added compounds, which can be derived from lignocellulosic biomass by various treatment methods, are presented with their references. Lignocellulosic biomass based polymers and their commercial importance are also reported mainly in the frame of these compounds. This review article aims to draw the map of lignocellulosic biomass derived chemicals and their synthetic polymers, and to reveal the scope of this map in today's modern chemical and polymer industry.

Biocatalytic approach for the utilization of hemicellulose for ethanol production from agricultural residue using thermostable xylanase and thermotolerant yeast.

Lignocellulosic biomass represents a renewable, widespread and low cost source of sugars which ca be used as substrate for the production of specialilty chemicals. Various agricultural residues contain about 20-30% hemicellulose, the second most abundant biopolymer found in nature. They are heterogeneous polymer of pentoses (xylose and arabinose) hexoses (mannose, glucose and galactose) and sugar acids. Xylans is the major component of hemicellulose and are heteropolysaccharides with homopolymeric backbone chains of 1, 4 linked β-D-xylopyranose units. The conversion of hemicellulose to bioethanol and other value added products is challenging problem.and is foreseen to be essential for the economic success of lignocellulosic ethanol. The xylose from the hemicellulose hydrolysate can be fermented to ethanol/ xylitol/lactic acid and other valuable products by pentose fermenting microbes. Xylitol a non caloric sugar has important applications in pharmaceuticals and food industries due to high sweetening power, non- and anticariogenicity property. . The acid or enzymatic hydrolysis of hemicellulose to fermentable sugars will be outlined. The enzymatic and fermentation routes for the conversion of hemicellulose into useful products will be described.

Value added products from hemicellulose: Biotechnological perspective

Enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol production using xyloglucanase and Debaromyces hansenii from tamarind kernel powder: galactoxyloglucan predominant hemicellulose.

Vishnu Menon

Papers

Trends in bioconversion of lignocellulose: Biofuels, platform chemicals & biorefinery concept

Biocatalytic approach for the utilization of hemicellulose for ethanol production from agricultural residue using thermostable xylanase and thermotolerant yeast.

Value added products from hemicellulose: Biotechnological perspective

Enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol production using xyloglucanase and Debaromyces hansenii from tamarind kernel powder: galactoxyloglucan predominant hemicellulose.

Bioethanol production from renewable polymer lichenan using lichenase from an alkalothermophilic Thermomonospora sp. and thermotolerant yeast