Ethanol, nonfood industrial

In spite of significant problems, many are optimistic about the role of biomass for alternative fuels in the future. The U.S. Department of Energy believes that biofuels from nonfood crops and MSW could potentially cut U.S. oil imports by 15 to 20%. Ethanol industry members believe that the capacity for producing that fuel alone could be doubled in a few years and tripled in five years. 

Biotechnology could also provide crop varieties better suited to nonfood raw material production. For example, ethanol yield during fermentation of woody biomass is affected by lignin content. Use of GM tree varieties with low lignin contents could increase lignocellulosic ethanol yield by 20% [17]. A further potential benefit of GM technology is the ability to produce large quantities of enzymes for industrial purposes. Development of modified maize plants that express... 

Bioethylene and green PE is one of the successful biorefinery processes. To compete with PE produced from oil resources, the green PE process must be improved and developed continuously. The efficient process improvement requires much knowledge and technology so that ethanol can be manufactured at low-cost from nonfood resources improvements are especially needed in the areas of cellulose pretreatment technology, fundamental ethanol dehydration chemistry, process and equipment development, the performance enhancement of downstream products, and so on. The successful operation of green PE industrial equipment has opened up a new era for bio-based materials, and will accelerate the quick development of the biorefinery industry. The experience developed during this process will be very important for the utilization of biorenewable resources. 

Starch uses are traditionally split into food and nonfood, or into native, modified and hydrolyzed starches, starch sugars and fermentation products (- starch EU market, - starch industry, world). Strongest growth is in -> starch hydrolysis products for bulk sweeteners as well as for sugars as C-source in fermentation processes to produce solvents, starting and auxiliary materials for chemical reactions and for fuel ethanol (gasohol). Special starches for traditional application (paper and board processing, textile improvement, binders and others) ftirthermore will make up more than 30% of the entire industrial starch demand. 

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