Bioethanol production from agricultural wastes: An overview

Due to rapid growth in population and industrialization, worldwide ethanol demand is increasing continuously. Conventional crops such as corn and sugarcane are unable to meet the global demand of bioethanol production due to their primary value of food and feed. Therefore, lignocellulosic substances such as agricultural wastes are attractive feedstocks for bioethanol production. Agricultural wastes are cost effective, renewable and abundant. Bioethanol from agricultural waste could be a promising technology though the process has several challenges and limitations such as biomass transport and handling, and efficient pretreatment methods for total delignification of lignocellulosics. Proper pretreatment methods can increase concentrations of fermentable sugars after enzymatic saccharification, thereby improving the efficiency of the whole process. Conversion of glucose as well as xylose to ethanol needs some new fermentation technologies, to make the whole process cost effective. In this review, available technologies for bioethanol production from agricultural wastes are discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.