Chapters authored
Biotechnological Interventions for the Improvement of Sugarcane Crop and Sugar Production
Sugarcane, not only fulfills 70% of world sugar needs but is also a prime potential source of bioethanol. It is majorly grown in tropical and subtropical regions. Researchers have improved this grass to great extent and have developed energy cane with ability to accumulate up to 18% sucrose in its Culm. Improvement of this crop is impeded by its complex genome, low fertility, long production cycle and susceptibility to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Biotechnological interventions hold great promise to address these impediments paving way to get improved sugarcane crop. Further, being vegetatively propagated in most of the agroecological regions, it has become more attractive plant to work with. This chapter highlights, how advanced knowledge of omics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics) can be employed to improve sugarcane crop. In addition, potential role of in vitro techniques and transgenic technology has also been discussed for developing improved sugarcane clones with enhanced sugar recovery.
Part of the book: Sugarcane
Biotechnological Interventions for the Production of Glycerol-Free Biodiesel
Advances in plant biotechnology and microbial genetics are speeding up because of the urgent need to provide a steady supply of resources. Growing cost of crude oil is having a negative impact on economies throughout the globe. Just biodiesel and bioethanol have been recognized as viable fossil fuel replacements. Chemical catalysis is primary way to synthesize biodiesel, besides enzymatic and microbial methods also play important role in biodiesel synthesis. These processes may play a significant part in the replacement of petroleum-based diesel in the future. The growth of sustainable, economically feasible biotechnological tools for the synthesis of biodiesel requires strong collaboration among several disciplines. In this age, lipases are the preferred enzymes for producing methyl esters (FAME), which are significant biological objects in biodiesel, from fatty acid esters (FAE) derived from fats and oils. It has also been shown that designed whole-cell microorganisms may directly produce FAE (MicroDiesel). The expensive cost of the biocatalyst continues to be a barrier to current enzymatic procedures, although advancements have recently been achieved, enabling the first synthetic enzymatic biodiesel synthesis. The fabrication of biodiesel which is enzymatic is primarily desirable due to the initial materials (waste frying oils, oils that were having high water content, etc.), where standard interesterification which is chemical is seldom applicable.
Part of the book: Advanced Biodiesel