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Environmental Impact and Challenges Associated with Bio-Based Energy

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Alternative Energy Resources

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 99))

Abstract

The growth of global economy and industry along with population explosion has led to an exponential enhancement in the consumption of energy in the past few decades. With this escalation in demand for energy, the utilization of renewable/sustainable energy sources, to provide long-term sustainable benefits to society, has also spiralled on a massive scale. Approximately 85% of the world energy consumption is primarily reliant on fossil fuels, a non-renewable source of energy. Thus, bio-based energy, a sustainable source of carbon-based energy, is considered as a substitute for the depleting non-renewable energy sources. Owing to the decreased carbon emissions, in comparison to fossil fuels and associated government support policies, the global demand for biomass-based energy plants is increasing rapidly. Though, the utilization of biomass in the form of food crops like maize, wheat, sugarcane and soybeans for the generation of biofuel is unlikely a sustainable approach. Further, the thermochemical processes of generation of biofuels from biomass have its associated environmental concerns such as generation of detrimental toxins and its accidental release into the atmosphere, during thermal decay and chemical reformation procedure. The chapter thus takes into account the various types of biomass and its promising techniques for generating energy, in addition to highlighting the environmental impacts along with Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission for bio-based energy generation/utilization alternatives.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Assam Science and Technology University, Guwahati, Assam, India

    Jaanvi Garg

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Meghalaya, Shillong, Meghalaya, India

    Susmita Sharma

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  1. Jaanvi Garg
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Correspondence to Susmita Sharma .

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  1. Department of Environmental Science, SRM University, Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, India

    Pankaj Pathak

  2. Institute for Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam

    Rajiv Ranjan Srivastava

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Garg, J., Sharma, S. (2020). Environmental Impact and Challenges Associated with Bio-Based Energy. In: Pathak, P., Srivastava, R.R. (eds) Alternative Energy Resources. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 99. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2020_615

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