Biofuel: Current Status in Production and Research
2010
Yu, J.K., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA | Park, S.K., Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
Finding alternative and renewable energy sources has become an important goal for plant scientists, especially with the demand for energy increasing worldwide and the supply of fossil fuel being depleted. The most important biofuel to date is bioethanol which is produced from sugars (sucrose and starch) found in corn and sugarcane. Second generation bioethanol is targeting studies that would allow the use of the cell wall (lignocellulose) as a source of carbon by non-food plants. Plant scientists, including breeders, agronomists, physiologists and molecular biologists, are working towards the development of new and improved energy crops especially, how to design crops for bioenergy production and increased biomass generation for biofuel purposes. This review focuses on: ⅰ) the current status of first generation bioenergy production, ⅱ) the limitations of first and second generation bioenergy, and ⅲ) ongoing research to overcome challenging issues in second generation bioenergy.
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