Chemical and Bioenergetic Characterization of Biofuels from Plant Biomass: Perspectives for Southern Europe

The global demand for and, therefore, the production of primary energy is continuously increasing. Consequently, the need to intervene with appropriate measures has arisen in order to achieve sustainable economic, social, and environmental objectives. The reduction of fuel and electricity consumptio...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Grippi, Donatella, Clemente Carrillo, Rafael, Bernal Calderón, M. Pilar
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/212551
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/212551
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Energy crops
Renewable energies
Plant biomass
Description
Summary:The global demand for and, therefore, the production of primary energy is continuously increasing. Consequently, the need to intervene with appropriate measures has arisen in order to achieve sustainable economic, social, and environmental objectives. The reduction of fuel and electricity consumption, the containment of atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide, methane, other hydrocarbons, and nitrous oxide), and the improvement of environmental quality in urban centers can be considered to be among these objectives. The search for efficient measures for the overall improvement of the environment is directed towards the replacement of traditional fossil fuels with the production of bioenergy (also known as green energy) from different materials and biomasses obtained from specific agricultural activities and/or plant residues. These materials have physico-chemical and biological characteristics of interest regarding their use as sources of renewable energy. The purpose of this review was to provide an overview of the chemical and bioenergetic characteristics of biofuels, the main techniques and processes employed for their production, and the characteristics of the different feedstock materials, especially potential energy crops.