Biobutanol: New era of biofuels

Global energy demands are primarily met through non-renewable sources such as coal, natural gas, and oil. However, the scarcity and rising prices of fossil fuels, coupled with the unprecedented environmental problems, lead the researchers to find out a microbial alternative to address these issues. Biofuel has emerged as an attractive solution which can be effectively used in the current scenario. Among the probable list of alternates, biobutanol is an important renewable source of biofuel which can be easily accommodated in existing fuels due to its better performance and other advantages over other biofuels. Bio-butanol can be efficiently produced from industrial, agricultural, and domestic waste material through microbial fermentation. Industries produce a huge amount of waste, and if not managed properly, it can be a major cause of pollution related to soil, water, and air. Microorganisms such as Escherichia coli, Clostridium acetobutylicum, Bacillus subtilis, Clostridium beijerinkckii, Pseudomonas putida, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, etc. can utilize carbohydrate rich waste material to produce bio-butanol through aerobic and anaerobic fermentation. Production of biobutanol from industrial wastes not only provides an ideal, eco-friendly clean/green energy source but also has potential to address the global issues of pollution, global warming, and greenhouse effect etc. to a greater extent. The issues such as global status of bio-energy, source of butanol production, purification, extraction, and strategies to enhance biobutanol yield through biotechnological interventions have been discussed in the present paper.