Biorefinery—From Biomass to Chemicals and Fuels

European chemists and other scientists explore some of the possibilities for biological matter to be substituted for petroleum as building blocks for chemicals and fuel, and for sustainability to be integrated into the new technologies from the very beginning. Among the topics are producing aquatic biomass and extracting bio-oil, chemical routes for converting cellulose and hemicellulose into platform molecules, process development and metabolic engineering for producing bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass, a case study in northern Sweden of the economic performance and greenhouse gas emissions from cellulosic ethanol production, and the basic science of anaerobic fermentation to make biogas from waste. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Michele Aresta, University of Bari, Italy; Angela Dibendetto, University of Bari, Italy;Franck Dumeignil, University ofLille- Nord de France, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France.