Biomass Valorization: A Sustainable Approach towards Carbon Neutrality and Circular Economy

This book provides information on the applications of lignocellulosic wastes, aquatic weeds, algal biomass and microbes in biofuel production, climate change mitigation, eco-restoration, environment protection and development of roadmap for circular economy.

Approximately eighty percent of the current energy requirements are fulfilled from fossil fuels which may be exhausted in the next fifty years if their exploitation rate continues with the same pace. Additionally, many health-related disorders like respiratory diseases, cancer and tumour are directly associated with the release of toxic gases during burning of fossil fuels. Therefore, transition from fossil fuels derived energy to low-carbon source energy is required for reduction in global carbon footprint. Excessive exhaustion of fossil sources and their high cost and adverse effects on environment have compelled researchers to develop alternative energy sources. Thus, biomass to bioenergy conversion technologies have been considered as the most promising approach for environment protection and sustainable development.

This book comprises latest information on advanced technologies and future directions for researchers and scientists working in the field of biorefinery, wastewater and solid waste treatment and carbon neutrality for environmental safety. It can also serve as a guide to environmentalists, microbiologists, biotechnologists, environmental engineers and managers, policy makers, and industrialists, working in this field.

Dr. Riti Thapar Kapoor is an associate professor in Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India. Dr. Kapoor received her PhD from University of Allahabad and worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Banaras Hindu University, India. Dr. Kapoor has fifteen years of teaching and research experience, and her area of specialization is environmental biotechnology, bioremediation, wastewater treatment and abiotic stresses. Dr. Kapoor has published 10 books and over 105 research papers in various journals of national and international repute. Dr. Kapoor has received prestigious travel award from Bill & Melinda Gates Research Foundation under CGIAR project for participation in International training programme held at International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, Philippines in 2010. She is also recipient of DST travel grant for participation in International Conference held at Sri Lanka in 2013. She has been awarded with Teacher's Research Fellowship from Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru in 2019. She has supervised and mentored a number of research projects sanctioned by different government funding agencies such as DAE, DST and UPCST. She has successfully supervised three research students for Ph.D. degree besides several (more than 80) masters' and graduate students for their dissertation thesis.

Dr. Mika Sillanpää's research work is on chemical treatment in environmental engineering and environmental monitoring and analysis. The recent research focus has been on the resource recovery from waste streams. Dr. Mika Sillanpää obtained his M.Sc. (Eng.) and D. Sc. (Eng.) degrees from the Aalto University where he also completed an MBA degree in 2013. Since 2000, he has been a professor or an adjunct professor at the University of Oulu, the University of Eastern Finland, the LUT University, the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Johannesburg. He has supervised over 60 PhDs and been a reviewer in over 250 academic journals. Mika Sillanpää has published more than 1000 articles in peer-reviewed international journals. He has served on the editorial boards of several scholarly publications. Having an h-index of 133, his publications have been cited over 85000 times. Mika Sillanpää has received numerous awards for research and innovation. He is the first Laureate of Scientific Committee on the Problems of the Environment (SCOPE)'s Young Investigator Award, which was delivered at the UNESCO Conference in Shanghai, 2010. He also received Literature award from the Water Association of Finland in 2018. In 2019, 2020 and 2021, he was listed as a highly cited researcher by Thomson Reuters in two different disciplines, among approximately 200 other top researchers (covering all fields of science). In 2021, he was listed as World's Top 2% Scientist by Stanford University. In 2022, he has been awarded the Provincial Innovative Talent of Zhejiang Province, China.

Dr. Jakub Zdarta graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry of the A. Mickiewicz University in Poznań in 2010 and the Faculty of Chemical Technology at the Poznań University of Technology in 2013. In 2017, he obtained the degree of Doctor of Chemical Science, and in 2021, he become an associate professor. Since 2018, he has been employed at the Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering at the Faculty of Chemical Technology of the Poznań University of Technology. He has authored over 110 scientific publications indexed by Thomson Reuters JCR, over 10 chapters in monographs and presented several invited lectures at national and international scientific conferences. Having an h-index of 34, his publications have been cited over 5000 times. He has also served as a principal investigator or main contractor of research projects financed by the National Science Centre, the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, as well as by foreign entities financing science. He has been awarded several awards such as the Minister's Scholarship for outstanding young scientists in 2019, the Scientific Award of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2022, the Prime Minister's Award for highly rated scientific achievements in 2022 and the award of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for outstanding scientific achievements in 2023. His research area focuses on biotechnology, biocatalysis, enzyme immobilization, biological wastewater treatment, bioremediation, organic pollutant removal, membrane processes, membrane bioreactors, biomass pretreatment and conversion, as well as hybrid materials and biomaterials.

Dr. Mohd Rafatullah is currently working as an Associate Professor of Environmental Technology in the School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia. He obtained his Ph.D. in environmental chemistry, masters in analytical chemistry and bachelors in chemistry from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India. My research interest is in the areas of environmental water pollutants and their safe removal, preparation of nanomaterials, wastewater treatment, adsorption and ion exchange, microbial fuel cells, advance oxidation process, activated carbons and their electrochemical properties. He is a lifetime fellow member of International Society of Sustainable Developments and member of various professional international societies. He has published several review articles and researchpapers in the journals of international repute and presented my research work in various national and international conferences.