Nivedita Sharma
University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, India
Title: Forest Lignocellulosics: A promising biomass for sustainable Bioenergy
Biography
Biography: Nivedita Sharma
Abstract
In the modern world all developed and developing nations are committed to opt for clean and green fuel technologies to lower down pollution load and keep this world a safer place to live in. One of the promising approach heading in this direction is to switch over to bioenergy mode of transportation to significantly lower down vehicle exhaust and simultaneously to replace ever receding conventional liquid petroleum at least partially if not completely. Forest lignocellulosic biomass comprising of soft and hardwood species holds tremendous potential for bioethanol production. Soft and hardwood forest biomass overall contains 50 to 80% of carbohydrates and rest is lignin. Both types of woods vary considerably in their cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin composition and thus need a special focus on their structural analysis followed by standardization of pretreatment process. As pretreatment happens to be the key parameter for bioconversion of lignocellulosic materials, soft and hardwood have been found to behave entirely different as far as physicochemical pretreatment is concerned followed by degradation to yield fermentable sugars by depolymerising enzymes. Similarly to enhance ethanol production efficiency, pretreated and hydrolyzed hard wood and soft wood require specific strategies to maximize the ethanol yield.and different process parameters of fermentation. The commercial feasibility of forest biomass for future bioenergy production is very strong provided a specific multi step process is optimized for soft and hard wood keeping in view their structural differences . In the present study a precise roadmap has been laid to differentiate between hard wood and soft wood for their respective bioconversion to achieve maximum ethanol recovery.