The book describes the pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass for biomass-to-biofuel
conversion processes which is an important step in increasing ethanol production for biofuels.
It also highlights the main challenges and suggests possible ways to make these technologies
feasible for the biofuel industry. The biological conversion of cellulosic biomass into
bioethanol is based on the chemical and biological breakdown of biomass into aqueous sugars
for example using hydrolytic enzymes. The fermentable sugars can then be further processed into
ethanol or other advanced biofuels. Pretreatment is required to break down the lignin structure
and disrupt the crystalline structure of cellulose so that the acids or enzymes can easily
access and hydrolyze the cellulose. Pre-treatment can be the most expensive process in
converting biomass to fuel but there is great potential for improving the efficiency and
lowering costs through further research and development. This book is aimed at academics and
industrial practitioners who are interested in the higher production of ethanol for biofuels.
