ABSTRACT
Bioenergy production utilizing the waste biomass is a sustainable alternative of fossil fuels and considered as a novel approach to meet global energy needs. Bioenergy is normally produced from the microbial mediated fermentation process and the biological wastes become the substrate for the bio-reactions. Utilization of microbial catabolic biochemical processes in the production of biofuels helps to resolve the climatic changes induced by the emission of greenhouse gases due to the combustion of fossil fuels and it will also aid in municipal solid waste management. This work elaborates the microbial mediated bioenergy production from organic and inorganic wastes. This manuscript also describes the role of different microbial systems (bacteria, fungi, algae) in digestion process and the efficiency of microbes in bioenergy production. Currently scientists have taken effort to improve the potential of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) in bioenergy production. For this purpose, it is important to select most promising microbial candidates involved in bioenergy production. This chapter analyses the potential of different microbial systems in the transformation of different types of organic and inorganic wastes to bioenergy, which aid to select most appropriate microbial candidates according to the substrate availability.
