Agricultural Biomass Nanocatalysts for Green Energy Applications

The book discusses the various sustainable approaches to combine agrowaste and nanomaterials into catalysts or nanocatalysts with the objective of enhancing biofuel production. It explores the practical sustainability of agronanocatalysts in bioenergy production at a mass scale, while also addressing the existing challenges and proposes sustainable remedies to overcome these limitations. Additionally, the book dives into the cost considerations, recognizing it as a major concern for the widespread utility of catalysts, and explores viable commercial applications in this context.

Nanomaterials continue to attract attention in the field of proteins and enzymes due to their versatile physicochemical properties and potential. They offer opportunities to enhance various biofuel production processes by serving as catalysts in the reaction medium. For instance, studies have highlighted the significant improvements in cellulase enzyme production, stability, pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass, and enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency achieved through the utilization of nanomaterials. The impact of nanomaterials on fermentative hydrogen production has also been documented. While the application of nanomaterials in biofuel production processes has been reported in the literature, there remains a need to focus on the type of nanomaterials, their synthesis, and their specific effects on important process parameters. Addressing and evaluating these factors is crucial to effectively improve and streamline biofuel production processes using nanomaterials.

The book serves as a comprehensive introduction to nanomaterials and nanotechnology in biofuel production, catering to the needs of researchers, academicians and students.

Dr. Manish Srivastava iscurrently working as Chief Technical Officerin the area of sustainable nanotechnology and bioprocessing stream in LCB Fertilizers Pvt Ltd. He worked as SERB-Research Scientist in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology IIT (BHU), Varanasi, India. He has worked as DST INSPIRE faculty in the Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, India during June 2014 to June 2019. He has published 79 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, edited 17 books for publishers of international renown, authored several book chapters, and filed one patent. He worked as a post doctorate fellow in the Department of BIN Fusion Technology, Chonbuk National University, South Korea from August 2012 to August 2013. He was an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, DIT School of Engineering, Greater Noida, from July 2011 to July 2012. He received his PhD in Physics from the Motilal Nehru National Institute ofTechnology, Allahabad, India, in 2011. Presently, he is working on the synthesis of graphene-based metal oxide hybrids and their applications as catalysts. His areas of interest are synthesis of nanostructured materials and their applications as catalyst for the development of electrode materials in energy storage, biosensors, and biofuels production.

Dr. Ashutosh Kumar Rai has been working as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia since 2017. Dr. Rai completed his Ph.D. (2012) in Applied Biochemistry from the School of Biotechnology, Banaras Hindu University, India in the area of microbial biotechnology and molecular biology. Dr. Rai has 17 years of teaching and research experience with more than 50 SCI publications.