ABSTRACT
Bioethanol production is mainly hindered by high feedstock costs. This chapter presents an overview of the available and accessible technologies for bioethanol production using the major agricultural wastes, namely rice straw, wheat straw, corn straw, and sugarcane bagasse. Bioethanol produced from starch and sucrose pathways is considered a first-generation biofuel derived from food crops. Pretreatment is an essential process for enhancing bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. There are several important factors that must be taken into consideration for low-cost and advanced pretreatment process. There are several challenges that need to be addressed before the bioethanol production potential of lignocellulosic biomass can be fully realized. Biomass loading is an important factor affecting microwave pretreatment efficiency. Few studies reported on the energy efficiency of microwave pretreatment process in bioethanol production. Microwave pretreatment, particularly with chemicals, necessitate feedstock washing after pretreatment to eliminate fermentation inhibitors.
