Plant Biotechnology for Sustainable Production of Energy and Co-products [recurso electrónico] / edited by Peter N. Mascia, Jürgen Scheffran, Jack M. Widholm.

to Biofuels -- Overview: World Energy Resources and the Need for Biomass for Energy and Lower Fossil Carbon Dioxide Emissions -- Designing Biomass Crops with Improved Calorific Content and Attributes for Burning: a UK Perspective -- Designing Plants To Meet Feedstock Needs -- Specific Biofuel Feedstocks -- Engineering Advantages, Challenges and Status of Sugarcane and other Sugar-Based Biomass Resources -- High Fermentable Corn Hybrids for the Dry-Grind Corn Ethanol Industry -- Engineering Advantages, Challenges and Status of Grass Energy Crops -- Woody Biomass and Purpose-Grown Trees as Feedstocks for Renewable Energy -- Engineering Status, Challenges and Advantages of Oil Crops -- Mitigating Invasiveness -- Invasive Species Biology, Ecology, Management and Risk Assessment: Evaluating and Mitigating the Invasion Risk of Biofuel Crops -- Gene Flow in Genetically Engineered Perennial Grasses: Lessons for Modification of Dedicated Bioenergy Crops -- Genetic Modification in Dedicated Bioenergy Crops and Strategies for Gene Confinement -- Models for Uses of Biomass Feedstocks -- Integrated Biorefineries—A Bottom-Up Approach to Biomass Fractionation -- Heat and Power Production from Stover for Corn Ethanol Plants -- Agricultural Fit of Biomass Crops and Lifecycle Analysis and Criteria -- The Problem is the Solution: the Role of Biofuels in the Transition to a Regenerative Agriculture -- Life-Cycle Analysis of Biofuels -- Criteria for a Sustainable Bioenergy Infrastructure and Lifecycle.

The successful use of plant biomass for the sustainable production of energy and co-products such as chemicals is critically important for the future of humanity. Large scale exploitation of biomass is needed to decrease the production of greenhouse gases and help mitigate global warming, to provide energy security in the face of declining petroleum reserves, to improve balance of payment imbalances, and to spur local economic development. This volume discusses such uses of plant biomass as well as ways to improve the productivity and composition of plant species, including trees, perennial and annual grasses, oil-producing plants and algae, that have the potential to produce substrates such as sugar, starch, oil and cell walls, as well as energy and co-product substrates. The problems of invasiveness and gene dispersal are discussed, as are ways to mitigate these. Among the topics covered are models for integrated biorefineries to produce many co-product chemicals, the use of corn stover to power ethanol plants, life cycle analysis of biofuels, and criteria for biomass sustainability and certification. This is indeed an exciting and fast-moving time for advocates of plant biomass-based technology.

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