ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the background for the green chemistry and green engineering principles that could be instrumental in sustainable biofuel process development. These principles are summarized into four major thrusts and three process steps. The major thrusts include: use of alternative or renewable feedstocks; use of less hazardous chemicals and environmentally friendly solvents; develop reaction conditions to increase the selectivity for the product; and minimizing the energy consumption for chemical transformations. These major thrusts can be implemented through 4the “green design” process steps, which involve identification of challenges and investigation of opportunities for innovation in green chemistry methods followed by implementation of sustainable processes; and evaluation of process performance, and redesign or refinement of process elements. This chapter also provides background for and highlights of the important contributions from the other authors in these thrust areas.
