Alternative Energies and Fossil Fuels in the Bioeconomy Era: What is Needed in the Next Five Years for Real Change

Sustainable biomass feedstock is the key to sustainable biofuels. The impact of bioenergy onsocial and environmental issues may be positive or negative depending on local conditions and thedesign and implementation of speciﬁc projects. This means that a certain feedstock may be sustainable,or unsustainable, depending on how and where the feedstock is produced.Plant production must be optimized with respect to energy inputs and the highly efﬁcientconversion of biomass. Conversion processes such as fermentation must be optimized for the optimalconversion of feedstock into useful products, which must then be optimized for different end usesas mixtures for motor fuel, additives, or chemical feedstock. In turn, internal combustion enginesneed to be re-designed to run on different formulations with unprecedented fuel efﬁciency. All ofthese activities must be held together within an over-riding framework of sustainability and economiccompetitiveness. Of particular interest are the systems-based analyses of sustainability at globaland local levels. The present studies address centrally important issues such as the availability ofland, access to production inputs such as water and sunlight, and global trade. There is sufﬁcientland available for cultivating bioenergy crops, and the potential of lignocellulose production andconversion can meet a substantial proportion of transport fuels. The present efforts focus on twotypes of potential bioenergy feedstock: the so-called “ﬁrst-generation” feedstock, i.e., oils, starch, andsugars, and the “second-generation” feedstock, lignocellulose. It is clear that ﬁrst-generation feedstockneeds to be developed to meet current objectives in Europe. ABAgri, in Leeds, has focused efforts onco-production as an essential component of ethanol production from wheat grains. Starch is fermentedto ethanol, ﬁbrous material is processed to ruminant feed, and the protein-rich fraction is used fornon-ruminant feed.Sugar beets, sorghum, corn, and sugarcane are all ﬁrst-generation sugar or starch bioethanol typesof feedstock. Second-generation cellulosic ethanol is primarily produced from lignocellulosic biomass.Oil-producing plants such as Jatropha curca, sunﬂowers, palms, and tobacco offer similaropportunities: Grown sustainably, seeds and fruits can provide both animal fodder and oil which maybe readily made into diesel fuel.Bioeconomy of BiofuelsThe ever-increasing population of both the developing and developed nations of the world,the consequent increase in their diesel consumption, the non-renewability of diesel source (petroleum),and the adverse environmental effects of burning diesel are factors that compel authorities to ﬁndalternatives to petroleum diesel.Global agricultural is expected to slow over the next 10 years, and cereal production is projectedto be 15% higher by 2023 compared to the 2013 period, outpaced by growth in livestock and biofuels.Cereals remain still at the core of human nutrition, but there is a shift to diets higher in fats, sugar,and protein. Biofuel production and consumption is expected to grow by more than 50%, led bysugar-based ethanol and biodiesel.