Energy Fuels 2010, 24, 4627–4627 Published on Web 05/17/2010
: DOI:10.1021/ef100511y
Bioenergy and Green Engineering Received May 5, 2010
Global energy demand is projected to grow over 50% by 2030. This will put additional pressure on our climate and, hence, on our planet. The recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, has ratified the Kyoto protocol and indicated to reduce the global emissions by at least 20% by 2020 and by 50-60% by 2050 relative to the emission level in 2006 and to continue to decline thereafter. The Government of Canada has mandated the addition of 10% ethanol in gasoline and 5% biodiesel in diesel fuel by 2012. Similar targets have been set by other countries as well. If blended in substantial amounts in transportation fuel, biofuels will tremendously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and associated public health risks in urban areas. Therefore, there has been serious demand upon green and renewable chemicals around the globe. The research intensiveness on the production and processes for green fuels and chemicals has grown several fold over the past decade. This trend will continue in the future. The advantages of the biodiesel fuels are their renewability, biodegradability, non-toxicity, low emissions, high cetane number, and high lubricity. Similarly, other advantages exist for ethanol usage in gasoline. The use of biochemicals helps to complement chemicals from non-renewable sources. However, the food versus fuel issues should be kept in mind while dealing with production, processing, and applications of biofuels and biochemicals. It was an attempt on our part to bring industry and academia together working on “Bioenergy and Green Engineering” at the 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering, which was held in Montreal, Canada, from August 23-27, 2009. There were over 110 papers presented in either oral or poster form at this symposium. This special section of Energy & Fuels has featured selected papers on research presented in this area. These papers are related to both thermochemical and biochemical conversion technologies and process modeling related to fuels and chemicals from biomass. Novel technologies for bioenergy and green engineering and related processes and products are presented. The guest editors, Drs. Dalai and Bassi, are experts in thermochemical and biochemical technologies, respectively. Professor Dalai has made wide contributions in biodiesel production, hydrogen and/or syngas production, gas-liquid technologies, biochar production and applications for environmental applications, pyrolysis and gasification technologies, nanocatalysis, and catalyst development and catalytic applications. Professor Bassi has been quite active in bioseparations, algal oil production, biogas cleanup, and related applications. We hope the readers of this special section of Energy & Fuels will find a useful collection of papers in this broad range and increasingly important area of research and development. A. K. Dalai* Guest Editor Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A9, Canada A. Bassi Guest Editor Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B9, Canada
r 2010 American Chemical Society
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pubs.acs.org/EF
