Abstract
Bioethanol (BioE) is a fuel derived from renewable sources of feedstock, typically plants such as wheat, sugar beet, corn, straw, and wood. Bioethanol is an alternative fuel that is produced almost entirely from food crops. Bioethanol represents an important, renewable liquid fuel for motor vehicles. In order to produce BioE from cellulosic biomass, a pretreatment process is used to reduce the sample size, break down the hemicelluloses to sugars, and open up the structure of the cellulose component. The cellulose portion is hydrolyzed by acids or enzymes into glucose sugar that is fermented to BioE. The sugars from the hemicelluloses are also fermented BioE. Producing and using BioE as a transportation fuel can help reduce carbon dioxide buildup in two important ways: by displacing the use of fossil fuels, and by recycling the carbon dioxide that is released when it is combusted as fuel. Using ethanol-blended fuel for automobiles can significantly reduce petroleum use and exhaust greenhouse gas emission. An important advantage of crop-based ethanol is its greenhouse benefits.