Current world fossil oil production is struggling to meet demand and may even show a decline after 2010. It is therefore necessary to develop new energy-efficient production pathways for transportation biofuels. This book offers an insight into three promising and innovative pathways for the biological production of ethanol, biogas and biodiesel. These unconventional methods should provide higher product yields, less stringent feedstock specifications, lower chemical additive demand, reduced waste production and much better energy balances when compared to more traditional methods. One pathway concerns the enzymatic production of a new kind of biodiesel where no glycerol waste is produced and an up to twenty percent higher product yield is obtained. The other two pathways are based on the biological conversion of syngas into ethanol or methane using various kinds of lignocellulosic biomass as the starting point. For each of the three pathways a comparison will be made with competing production methods. The contents reflect extended desktop research and show practical experimental results. Government scientists, academics and biofuel producers with an interest in novel transportation fuels will all find this book to be essential reading.

Alwin Hoogendoorn is a partner and senior consultant at Ingenia Consultants and Engineers and has been involved in bioenergy for more than ten years. He is an expert in the field of novel biofuel production processes and has been working on enzymatic biodiesel processes, digestion processes, and the biological conversion of syngas into ethanol and other products. He has also recently started work on the biological convesion of syngas into methane. Han van Kasteren is an expert in novel biofuel production processes. Specifically, he has been working on gasification processes for waste biomass, enzymatic biodiesel processes, digestion processes, and the biological conversion of syngas into ethanol and other products. He has also recently started work on the biological convesion of syngas into methane.

Introduction Biological conversion of syngas into ethanol Biological conversion of syngas into other fuels Enzymatic glycerol-free biodiesel production Concluding remarks