Abstract
Most of the world’s petroleum is located in politically unstable regions, while the United States’ production has continued to decline since 1970 as its reserves are depleted. The resulting large petroleum imports have significant strategic and economic consequences, and fossil fuels contribute most to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, development and commercialization of sustainable energy technologies are critical to (1) reduce our dependence on imported petroleum, and (2) reduce GHG emissions. Biofuels provide the only option we have for large-scale production of sustainable liquid transportation fuels that are vital to such uses as air travel, heavy truck transport, and long-distance travel. Fortunately, cellulosic biomass is plentiful and low in cost and can be converted into a range of products suitable for transportation by biological and thermochemical processes. Through combining more efficient use of fuels with advances in biomass production technologies, we could potentially replace a large fraction, even all, of the petroleum directly used for transportation as well as that consumed for its processing to fuels. Government policy is vital to break the log jam and accelerate applications that can build a foundation for new energy systems for transportation, particularly in light of the high volatility of petroleum prices.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aden A, Ruth M, Ibsen K, Jechura J, Neeves K, Sheehan J, Wallace K, Montague L, Slayton A, Lukas J (2002) Lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol process design and economics utilizing co-current dilute acid prehydrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis for corn stover. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, NREL/TP-510-32438
Bossel U (2006) Does a hydrogen economy make sense? Proc IEEE 94:1826–1837
Brennan AH, Hoagland W, Schell DJ (1986) High temperature acid hydrolysis of biomass using an engineering scale plug flow reactor: results of low solids testing. Biotechnol Bioeng Symp 17:53–70
Fargione J, Hill J, Tilman D, Polasky S, Hawthorne P (2008) Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt. Science 319:1235–1238
Farrell AE, Plevin RJ, Turner BT, Jones AD, O’Hare M, Kammen DM (2006) Ethanol can contribute to energy and environmental goals. Science 311:506–508
Grethlein HE, Converse AO (1991) Continuous acid hydrolysis of lignocelluloses for production of xylose, glucose, and furfural. In: Chahal DS (ed) Food, feed, and fuel from biomass. Oxford & IBH, New Delhi, pp 267–279
Heitz M, Capek-Menard E, Koeberle PG, Gagne J, Chornet E, Overend RP, Taylor JD, Yu E (1991) Fractionation of Populus tremuloides at the pilot plant scale: optimization of steam pretreatment using Stake II technology. Bioresour Technol 35:23–32
Holtzapple MT (1993) Chapters “Cellullose,” “Hemicelluloses,” and “Lignin”. In: Macrae R, Robinson RK, Sadler MJ (eds) Encyclopedia of food science, food technology, and nutrition. Academic, London, pp 758–767, 2324–2334, 2731–2738
Hsu T-A (1996) Pretreatment of biomass. In: Wyman CE (ed) Handbook on bioethanol, production and utilization. Taylor & Francis, Washington, DC, pp 179–212
Huber GW, Iborra S, Corma A (2006) Synthesis of transportation fuels from biomass: chemistry, catalysts, and engineering. Chem Rev 106:4044–4098
Lewis NS, Nocera DG (2006) Powering the planet: chemical challenges in solar energy utilization. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:15729–15735
Lynd LR (1996) Overview and evaluation of fuel ethanol from cellulosic biomass: technology, economics, the environment, and policy. Annu Rev Energ Environ 21:403–465
Lynd LR, Wyman CE, Gerngross TU (1999) Biocommodity engineering. Biotechnol Prog 15:777–793
Lynd LR, Laser MS, Bransby D, Dale BE, Davison BH, Hamilton R, Himmel M, Keller M, McMillan JD, Sheehan J, Wyman CE (2008) How biotech can transform biofuels. Nature Biotechnol 26:169–172
Maslow AH (1943) A theory of human motivation. Psychol Rev 50:370–396
Mosier N, Wyman CE, Dale B, Elander R, Lee YY, Holtzapple M, Ladisch M (2005) Features of promising technologies for pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. Bioresour Technol 96:673–686
Perlack R, Wright L, Turhollow A, Graham R, Stokes B, Erbach D (2005) Biomass as feedstock for a bioenergy and bioproducts industry: the technical feasibility of a billion-ton annual supply. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN
Searchinger T, Heimlich R, Houghton RA, Dong F, Elobeid AJF, Tokgoz S, Hayes D, Yu T-H (2008) Use of US croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land-use change. Science 319:1238–1240
Sheehan J, Dunahay T, Benemann J, Roessler P (1998) A look back at the US Department of energy’s aquatic species program – biodiesel from algae. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, NREL/TP-580-24190
Sheridan C (2008) Europe lags, US leads 2nd generation biofuels. Nat Biotechnol 26:1319–1321
Tyson KS (1993) Fuel cycle evaluations of biomass-ethanol and reformulated gasoline, vol I. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, NREL/TP-463-4950 DE94000227
US Department of Energy (2008) Annual Energy Review 2007. Report DOE/EIA-0384(2007) June: Energy Information Administration, Washington, DC
Wiselogel A, Tyson S, Johnson D (1996) Biomass feedstock resources and composition. In: Wyman CE (ed) Handbook on bioethanol: production and utilization. Taylor & Francis, Washington, DC, pp 105–118
Wooley R, Ruth M, Glassner D, Sheehan J (1999) Process design and costing of bioethanol technology: a tool for determining the status and direction of research and development. Biotechnol Prog 15:794–803
Wright JD, D’Agincourt CG (1984) Evaluation of sulfuric acid hydrolysis processes for alcohol fuel production. Biotechnol Bioeng Symp 14:105–123
Wright JD, Power AJ (1987) Comparative technical evaluation of acid hydrolysis processes for conversion of cellulose to alcohol. Energy, Biomass and Wastes 10:949–971
Wyman C, Hinman N, Bain R, Stevens D (1992) Ethanol and methanol from cellulosic biomass. In: Williams R, Johansson T, Kelly H, Reddy A (eds) Fuels and electricity from renewable resources. Island, Washington, DC, pp 865–924
Wyman C, Dale B, Elander R, Holtzapple M, Ladisch M, Lee Y, Mitchinson C, Saddler J (2008) Comparative sugar recovery and fermentation data following pretreatment of poplar woody leading technologies. Biotechnol Prog 25:333–339
Wyman CE (1994) Alternative fuels from biomass and their impact on carbon dioxide accumulation. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 45–46:897–915
Wyman CE, Goodman BJ (1993) Near term application of biotechnology to fuel ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. In: Busche R (ed) Opportunities for innovation in biotechnology. National Institutes of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, pp 151–190
Wyman CE, Dale BE, Elander RT, Holtzapple M, Ladisch MR, Lee YY (2005) Comparative sugar recovery data from laboratory scale application of leading pretreatment technologies to corn stover. Bioresour Technol 96:2026–2032
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wyman, C.E. (2010). Introduction Overview: World Energy Resources and the Need for Biomass for Energy and Lower Fossil Carbon Dioxide Emissions. In: Mascia, P., Scheffran, J., Widholm, J. (eds) Plant Biotechnology for Sustainable Production of Energy and Co-products. Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, vol 66. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13440-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13440-1_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-13439-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-13440-1
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)