lignocellulosic biomass

Hani Al-Ahmad's picture

Plants To Power: Bioenergy To Fuel The Future

Journal Title, Volume, Page: 
Trends in Plant Science, Volume 13, Issue 8, August 2008, Pages 421-429
Year of Publication: 
2008
Authors: 
Joshua S. Yuan
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Kelly H. Tiller
Department of Agricultural Economics and the Office of Bioenergy Programs, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Hani Al-Ahmad
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Current Affiliation: 
Department of Biology & Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, An-Najah National University, Nablus. Palestine
Nathan R. Stewart
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Neal Stewart Jr
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Preferred Abstract (Original): 

Bioenergy should play an essential part in reaching targets to replace petroleum-based transportation fuels with a viable alternative, and in reducing long-term carbon dioxide emissions, if environmental and economic sustainability are considered carefully. Here, we review different platforms, crops, and biotechnology-based improvements for sustainable bioenergy. Among the different platforms, there are two obvious advantages to using lignocellulosic biomass for ethanol production:higher net energy gain and lower production costs. However,the use of lignocellulosic ethanol as a viable alternative to petroleum-based transportation fuels largely depends on plant biotechnology breakthroughs. We examine how biotechnology, such as lignin modification, abiotic stress resistance, nutrition usage, in planta expression of cell wall digestion enzymes, biomass production, feedstock establishment, biocontainment of transgenesmetabolic engineering, and basic research, can be used to address the challenges faced by bioenergy crop production.

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