Technological interventions for utilization of crop residues and weedy biomass for second generation bio-ethanol production

Currently, most of the energy demand around the world is met from crude oil, coal and natural gas. Due to the fluctuations in price of crude oil, depletion of fossil fuel and increased concern about environmental pollution the development of clean and renewable energy is imminent. In this context, lignocellulosic biomass plays a significant role by having a potential as substrate for bio-ethanol production and to supplement/replace the petroleum based fuels in near future. Lignocellulosic biorefinery is an emerging industry that uses renewable resources to produce clean and environment friendly bioenergy. In future, ligno-cellulosic based bio-ethanol will become a key factor in shifting the dependency of transport sector towards renewable and sustainable energy resources from the petroleum based sources. However, major technological and economic hurdles are impeding the successful deployment of this technology at commercial level. This review focuses on recent developments and cost effective technologies in pretreatments, saccharification and fermentation process for conversion of biomass into bio-ethanol. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.