A whole host of motivations are driving the development of the renewables industry ranging from the desire to develop sustainable energy resources to the reduction of dangerous greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. All energy utilized on the earth is ultimately derived from the sun through photosynthesis the only truly renewable commodity. As concerns regarding increasing energy prices, global warming and renewable resources continue to grow, so has scientific discovery into agricultural biomass conversion. Plant Biomass Conversion addresses both the development of plant biomass and conversion technology, in addition to issues surrounding biomass conversion, such as the affect on water resources and soil sustainability. This book also offers a brief overview of the current status of the industry and examples of production plants being used in current biomass conversion efforts.

A whole host of motivations are driving the development of the"renewables" industry-- ranging from the desire todevelop sustainable energy resources to the reduction of dangerousgreenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. All energyutilized on the earth is ultimately derived from the sun throughphotosynthesis--the only truly renewable commodity.As concerns regarding increasing energy prices, global warmingand renewable resources continue to grow, so has scientificdiscovery into agricultural biomass conversion. Plant BiomassConversion addresses both the development of plant biomass andconversion technology, in addition to issues surrounding biomassconversion, such as the affect on water resources and soilsustainability. This book also offers a brief overview of thecurrent status of the industry and examples of production plantsbeing used in current biomass conversion efforts.

Contributors.Preface.1 The Bioeconomy: A New Era of Products Derived from RenewablePlant-Based Feedstocks (Peter Nelson, Elizabeth Hood, andRandall Powell).2 Agricultural Residues (James Hettenhaus).3 Growing Systems for Traditional and New Forest-BasedMaterials (Randall Rousseau, Janet Hawkes, Shijie Liu, andTom Amidon).4 Dedicated Herbaceous Energy Crops (Keat (Thomas) Teoh,Shivakumar Pattada Devaiah, Deborah Vicuna Requesens, and ElizabethE. Hood).5 Municipal Solid Waste as a Biomass Feedstock (David J.Webster).6 Water Sustainability in Biomass CroppingSystems (Jennifer L. Bouldin and Rodney E. Wright).7 Soil Sustainability Issues in Energy CropProduction (V. Steven Green).8 Fermentation Organisms for 5-and 6-Carbon Sugars (NicholasDufour, Jeffrey Swana, and Reeta P. Rao).9 Pretreatment Options (Bradley A. Saville).10 Enzyme Production Systems for Biomass Conversion (JohnA. Howard, Zivko Nikolov, and Elizabeth E. Hood).11 Fermentation-Based Biofuels (Randy Kramer and HeleneBelanger).12 Biobased Chemicals and Polymers (Randall W. Powell,Clare Elton, Ross Prestidge, and Helene Belanger).13 Carbon Offset Potential of Biomass-BasedEnergy (Gauri-Shankar Guha).14 Biofuel Economics (Daniel Klein-Marcuschamer, BradHolmes, Blake A. Simmons, and Harvey W. Blanch).Index.