ABSTRACT
The steep increase in oil prices, rapid depletion of fossil fuels, and the rising environmental concerns has encouraged significant research interest in alternate renewable fuels. In this regard, energy deriving from biomass has great potential to meet the future energy demands. Cleaner biofuels including bioethanol, biodiesel, biogas, and bio-oils can help in reducing the dependence on petroleum-based fuels and mitigate global warming. These biofuels are produced using renewable resources such as sugar, starch, and other organic feedstocks. With the increasing demand for biofuel production, alternative resources such as agricultural wastes and residues, forest wastes, municipal solid wastes, other industrial wastes, and algae have been considered as potential low-cost abundant feedstocks for biofuel production. However, despite the various technological advances, the biofuel production and distribution has not yet been able to compete with the fossil fuel markets. This chapter acquaints readers with the state-of-the-art of biofuels and related technologies. A detailed evaluation of the current status and concerns is presented with a future outlook on the biofuel-based economy. In addition, a brief overview of the focus of the book and the subsequent chapters is provided for the reference of the readers.
