The book describes the pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomassfor biomass-to-biofuel conversion processes, which is an important step inincreasing ethanol production for biofuels. It also highlights the mainchallenges and suggests possible ways to make these technologies feasible for the biofuel industry. Thebiological conversion of cellulosic biomass into bioethanol is based on thechemical and biological breakdown of biomass into aqueous sugars, for exampleusing hydrolytic enzymes. The fermentable sugars can then be further processedinto ethanol or other advanced biofuels. Pretreatment is required to break downthe lignin structure and disrupt the crystalline structure of cellulose so thatthe acids or enzymes can easily access and hydrolyze the cellulose.Pre-treatment can be the most expensive process in converting biomass to fuel,but there is great potential for improving the efficiency and lowering coststhrough further research and development. This book is aimed at academics andindustrial practitioners who are interested in the higher production of ethanolfor biofuels.

Dr. Pratima Bajpai has a Ph.D from the National Sugar Institute(NSI), Kanpur, India. She is currently a technical consultant in the pulp and paper industry andhas over 30 years experiencein research at the National Sugar Institute Kanpur, the Universityof Saskatchewan, the Universityof Western Ontario in Canada, and the ThaparCenter for Industrial Research and Development in India. She has also worked asa visiting professor atthe University of Waterloo, Canada, and visiting scientist at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. 

Dr. Bajpais main areas of expertise areindustrial biotechnology, pulp and paper, and environmental biotechnology. She is a recognized expert in industrial biotechnology and has contributed immensely to the field. She is currently actively engaged incommercializing biotechnological processes for the pulp and paper industry. 

Her research accomplishments have resulted in over 150 publications in respected international journalsand conference proceedings. She has alsowritten several advanced technical books onenvironmental and biotechnological aspects of pulp and paper, which have beenpublished by leading publishers PIRA International, UK; Springer, Germany;Miller Freeman USA, John Wiley, and Elsevier Science. She has alsocontributed chapters to a number of books and encyclopedias,obtained 11 patents, and has written several technical reports. In addition, she has implemented severalprocesses in Indian paper mills.Dr. Bajpai is an active member of the American Society of Microbiologists andis a reviewer for manyinternational research journals.

Background and General Introduction.- Structure ofLignocellulosic Biomass.- Conversion of Biomass to Fuel.- Pretreatment of LignocellulosicBiomass.- Summary of Biomass Pretreatment Methods.- Future Perspectives.