Biofuels Methods & Protocols

With the dwindling supplies of fossil fuels and growing concerns regarding climate changes due to green house gasses from these fuels, public opinion has swung dramatically towards favoring the development of renewable energy sources.  In Biofuels: Methods and Protocols, career-long experts explore a full range of methods for bioenergy covering important topics such as biomass production and delivery to the biorefinery, detailed biochemical characterization, as well as biotechnological techniques for converting plant matter into fuels and chemicals.  Time is of the essence in this field, and this volume aims to provide direction and assistance to the growing cadre of researchers endeavoring to develop new sources of bioenergy with a solid, easy-to-use collection of tried-and-true methods which will save time and effort in the field and the laboratory.  Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology™ series format, chapters include brief introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary equipment, materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible field and laboratory protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding common pitfalls. Timely and authoritative, Biofuels: Methods and Protocols seeks to help scientists and engineers as they develop and optimize bioenergy technologies needed to drastically change the course of our energy future as soon as possible.

From the reviews: "Bioenergy research, development and industrialization are moving at a rapid pace. ... This book is therefore timely and focuses on lignocellulose-to-bioethanol technologies, with particular emphasis on maize residues and 'energy crops' ... . Biomass supply, pretreatment and analysis are well covered ... . This is a most useful text, or ... lab handbook, that covers many analytical methods and applications for biomass-to-biofuel technologies." (Graeme Walker, Microbiology Today, June, 2010)

In this timely and authoritative book, career-long experts explore a full range of methods for bioenergy. The volume aims to provide direction and assistance to the growing cadre of researchers endeavoring to develop new sources of bioenergy.

1. Biomass Supply Logistics and Infrastructure

Shahabaddine Sokhansanj and J. Richard Hess

2. Selecting, Establishing, and Managing Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) for Biofuels

David J. Parrish and John H. Fike

3. Agronomic Experiences with Miscanthus x giganteus in Illinois, USA

Richard Pyter, Emily Heaton, Frank Dohleman, Tom Voigt, and Stephen Long

4. Genetic Transformation of Switchgrass

Yajun Xi, Yaxin Ge, and Zeng-Yu Wang

5. Lignocellulosic Biomass Pretreatment Using AFEX

Venkatesh Balan, Bryan Bals, Shishir P. S. Chundawat, Derek Marshall and Bruce E. Dale

6. Pretreatment of Biomass by Aqueous Ammonia for Bioethanol Production

Tae Hyun Kim, Rajesh Gupta, and Y. Y. Lee

7. Liquid Hot Water Pretreatment of Cellulosic Biomass

Youngmi Kim, Rick Hendrickson, Nathan S. Mosier, and Michael R. Ladisch

8. Dilute Acid and Autohydrolysis Pretreatment

Bin Yang and Charles E. Wyman

9. Lime Pretreatment

Rocio Sierra, Cesar Benigno Granda, and Mark Thomas Holtzapple

10. Analytical Characterization of Fermentation Inhibitors in Biomass Pretreatment Samples Using Liquid Chromatography, UV-Visible Spectroscopy, and Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Lekh N. Sharma, Christopher Becker, and C. Kevin Chambliss

11. Biomass Compositional Analysis for Energy Applications

Bonnie R. Hames

12. High Throughput Screening of Plant Cell Wall Composition Using Pyrolysis Molecular Beam Mass Spectroscopy

Robert Sykes, Matthew Yung, Evandro Novaes, Matias Kirst, Gary Peter, and Mark Davis

13. Preparation and Analysis of Biomass Lignins

Alicia L. Compere and William L. Griffith

14. Cellulase Assays

Y.-H. Percival Zhang, Jiong Hong, and Xinhao Ye

15. Assessing Cellulase Performance On Pretreated

Lignocellulosic Biomass Using Saccharification and Fermentation-Based Protocols

Nancy Dowe

16. Basic Laboratory Culture Methods for Anaerobic Bacteria

Herbert J. Strobel

17. Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation and Partial Saccharification and Co-Fermentation of Lignocellulosic Biomass for Ethanol Production

Joy Doran-Peterson, Amruta Jangid, Sarah K. Brandon, Emily DeCrescenzo-Henriksen, Bruce Dien, and Lonnie O. Ingram

18. Biodiesel: Small Scale Production and Quality Requirements

Jon Van Gerpen