Wood is far and wide being used as energy source. Pruning is used to prop up lateral branching in Jatropha. On average, one hectare land has about 2,500 Jatropha trees (Gour 2006) which on pruning produces substantial amounts of wood. One hectare of Jatropha plantation produces about 20 tons of woody biomass over a period of 6 years (Sotolongo et al. 2009).

Each Jatropha plant at about 7 years of growth produces about 200 kg of bio­mass with about 25 % dry matter content (Benge 2006). This yields about 80 ton ha-1 dry matter content of wood from cuttings done once every 10 years. The wood has an energy value of 15.5 MJ kg-1 (Openshaw 2000; Sotolongo et al. 2009). With this value it can supply 1.2 PJ of energy.

17.5 Net Energy Output

Net energy gain (NEG) one of the accepted indices for analyzing biofuel energy efficiency is the difference between the total energy outputs and total energy inputs (Nguyen et al. 2007). Net energy ratio (NER), an indicator for comparing the energy efficiency of biofuels is the ratio of total energy outputs to total energy inputs. Energy balance of J. curcas biodiesel is found to be positive. Life cycle analysis of J. curcas has shown that it has positive NEG (Prueksakorn and Gheewala 2008; Preuksakorn et al. 2010). The NER ratio of J. curcas depends on whether the planta­tion is annual or perennial. Preuksakorn et al. (2010) reported NER values for annual and perennial plantations are 7.5 and 6, respectively. The total energy output is 121.2 GJ for annual plantation and 101 GJ for perennial plantation.

Glucose, which can be synthesized via the hydrolysis of cellulose, is a versatile precursor to valuable chemicals such as biodegradable plastics and ethanol (Scheme 20.1).

Bioethanol can be obtained from glucose by a hydrogenolysis reaction, although reports on the chemocatalytic conversion still give low yields of ethanol with pri­marily products such as ethylene and propylene glycols (Bozell and Petersen 2010). Metal phosphides Ni2P, CoP, Cu3P, Fe2P, WP supported on carbon have been tested in the hydrogenolysis of polyalcohols and in the presence of the 2 % Ni2P/AC cata­lyst in reaction conditions of 200 °C, 4.0 MPa of hydrogen, and reaction time
45 min, the yield of ethanol was only 3.2 % (Sotak et al. 2013). Biocatalysts are currently more superior in the production process of ethanol compared to that of chemocatalytic conversions. Therefore, research on the selective catalytic hydroge — nolysis of glucose to ethanol is essential. On the other hand, synthesis of co-products such as furans and organic acids has been widely developed using a number of cata­lytic processes.

Of the first class of reactions, dehydration of glucose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) has been considered to be an important and renewable platform chemical. Reported solid acid catalysts generally included H-form zeolites, ion-exchange res­ins, vanadyl phosphate, and ZrO2 (Tong et al. 2010) . Around 42-54 % yield of

5- HMF can be produced from glucose and sucrose by a simple one-pot synthesis using a combination of Amberlyst-15 and Mg-Al hydrotalcite (HT) as catalyst in N, N-dimethylformamide at 100 °C (Takagaki et al. 2009). Moreover, in the Ti O2- and Zr O)-catalyzed conversion of glucose to 5-HMF, TPD measurement results showed that the strength of the acidity and basicity was important for the 5-HMF formation from glucose (Watanabe et al. 2005). Molecular sieves, i. e., HY zeolite, aluminum-pillared montmorillonite, MCM-20, and MCM-41, also promoted the dehydration of glucose, although formic acid or 4-oxopentanoic acid was easily formed in those processes (Lourvanij and Rorrer 1997). Meanwhile, dehydration with mineral acid as catalyst using different types of solvents has also been tested and the yield of 5-HMF could be improved in a biphasic reactor system (Szmant and Chundury 1981). Hydrolysis of the C5 sugars of hemicellulose may lead to furfural which is an important chemical solvent.

Subsequent rehydrated 5-HMF gives levulinic and formic acids as the final prod­ucts. Levulinic acid has been identified as a promising green, biomass-derived plat­form chemical. Levulinic acid contains a ketone group and a carboxylic acid group. These two functional groups make levulinic acid a versatile building block for the synthesis of various organic chemicals (Thomas and Barile 1985). For instance, 2-methyl-tetrahydrofuran and various levulinate esters may be used as gasoline and biodiesel additives, respectively. d-Aminolevulinate is a known herbicide and the bisphenol derivative may be an interesting.

The oxidation of glucose is another representative example of the conversion of sugars using supported Pt, Pd, or Au catalyst. The primary oxidation products of glucose oxidation are gluconic acid and glucaric acid, and from gluconic acid are 2-keto-gluconic acid and glucuronic acid (Hermans et al. 2011). Gluconic acid is an important food and pharmaceutical industry intermediate that is usually produced by enzymatic or chemical oxidation of glucose (Climent et al. 2011). Recently, Tan et al. (2009)showed the selective aqueous hydrolytic oxidation of cellobiose, the dimer of cellulose, over a gold nanoparticle loaded on nitric acid-pretreated carbon nanotube catalyst (Au/CNT); achieving 68 % yield of gluconic acid at 81 % conversion. Although chemical glucose oxidation usually proceeds in a basic medium, the authors found the reaction to occur without pH control.

Bio-based products from lignocellulosic biomass such as bioethanol and valuable co-products have unique properties compared to hydrocarbon-derived products such as biodegradability and biocompatibility. Their developments are driven by the need for alternative, less expensive reagents, and the mandate to reduce the environ­mental impact of chemical production process. Derivative of glucose can be used as the starting materials for these bio-based products as well as for the replacement of oil-derived chemicals.

Elasticity of bamboo culms is observed to increase with age. Specific modulus for elasticity measured for 1-year culm is 16,268, for 3 year culm is 14,346, and for 5 year culm is 17,414. This proves that elasticity in bamboo culms is enhanced with age. Elasticity of bamboo culms is directly proportional to specific gravity. When outer layer of bamboo is removed, specific gravity is lowered and hence elasticity decreases (Li 2004). The highest elasticity is observed in steam exploded bamboo filaments put into poly lactic acid matrix (Tokoro et al. 2008). There is a significant decrease in modulus of elasticity between longitudinal and transverse directions. Modulus of elasticity of longitudinal direction is 16.1 GPa and that of transverse direction is 5.91 GPa in the cell walls (Yu et al. 2007). Increase in filler loading increases the elasticity of bamboo fibers (Ismail 2003). Dynamic modulus of elas­ticity increases with increase in density, drilling resistance, modulus of elasticity, and modulus of rupture (Lin et al. 2006). As the surface area percentage of fiber band becomes larger, the modulus of elasticity increases (Sheng-Xia et al. 2005). Bamboo fibers owe their elasticity to combination of fiber rich outer part and com­pressible inner part (Obataya et al. 2007).

Bagasse is a fibrous residue that remains after crushing the stalks and contains short fibers (Fig. 4.5). It consists of water, fibers, and small amounts of soluble solids. Percent contribution of each of these components varies according to the variety, maturity, method of harvesting, and the efficiency of the crushing plant. Table 4.2 shows a typical bagasse composition.

Table 4.2 Bagasse composition (Verma et al. 2012)

Machine processing tests were performed to measure the time taken by the machine to scrap the leaf. The following costs were also evaluated: (1) initial investment costs (fixed), considering depreciation of the scrapping machine; (2) material expenses, without including the leaves of A. comosus as a cost since they are pres­ently considered as waste (only the fuel for the scrapping machine was taken into account); and (3) manpower costs, which included three workers to whom the cor­responding salary according to the legislation in Costa Rica was paid. All costs were reported in US dollars.

7.2.5 Information Processing

The lengths of the leaves of the first and second crops were applied a frequency distribution. The distributions were later compared using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to determine the degree of similarity between the leaf length distribution of the plants from the first and from the second crops. Meanwhile, the weight data obtained from the different plant elements were first compared among themselves to evaluate
whether there were differences between the plants of each crop and were later used to generate the weight percentages based on the total weight. Also, a projection was made of the possible weight per hectare to be obtained from the different elements of the plant.

Fibres play an important role of the properties of composite materials. A certain fraction of fibre can be able to minimize the stress onto composite materials. Whenever composite materials face any mechanical stress, polymer matrixes transfer it to filler. Since fibre possesses greater strength than matrix, it may compensate the stress and protect matrix from breakage. Therefore, good adhesion between fibre and matrix is compulsorily needed to transfer the external stress onto composite.

Table 10.4 shows the effect of fibre loading on the density of OBF-PFR compos­ites. It is seen that the density of composites is decreased with the increase of fibre content. The tensile strength (TS), Young’s modulus (YM), flexural strength (FS) and flexural modulus (FM) of untreated, alkali-treated, bleached and AN-grafted

OBF-PFR composites with respect to different fibre loads are illustrated in Table 10.4. The optimum fibre load was fixed from which showing greater mechani­cal properties. It is revealed that the TS of composite increases continuously with the increase of fibre load up to 29 wt% and thereafter it decreases. A certain fraction of fibre is finely distributed in polymer resin; therefore, stronger interfacial bonding between the fibre and matrix is found. Similarly, YM increases with the increase of fibre load up to 29 wt%. The crystalline materials have shown higher modulus as compared to amorphous materials. Up to 29 wt% fibre fraction of composites are rearranged for crystalline structure.

Table 10.4 shows the FS of different fibre-loaded OBF-PFR composites. The FS increases with fibre loading up to 29 wt% and thereafter decreases with the increase of fibre load. The higher FS observed at 29 wt% fibre loading can be explained by better wetting of fibre in polymer resin which gives less fibre fractures during appli­cation of flexural stress. Therefore, the bond between fibre and matrix often dictates whether the fibre will improve the properties of composites by transferring an applied load. At above 29 wt% fibre-loaded composites, fibres may be agglomer­ated in composites; hence, FS was decreased.

13.4.1 Production Cost

Photosynthetic development of algae requires not only sufficient supply of light, carbon dioxide, water, and salts but the temperature must also linger within 293-303 K. Maintenance of these conditions is not possible without putting a stress on the budget. Cultivation in a photobioreactor is advantageous when we consider the fact that it requires less light energy and the conditions are also controllable but PBR setup is quite expensive.

13.4.2 Large-Scale Production

Growing our selected algal specie in ample volume of hundreds of cubic meters is one of the chief problems in the large-scale algal cultivation. When efforts are made to induce an increase in the volume of the algal strain, a premature collapse may take place due to the semi-sterile conditions of the environment.

Unburned chopped cane may be harvested using sugarcane straw removal harvester. Straw is baled and transported to the industry, and chopped cane is carried from the field to the sugarcane mill. Eighty-eight percent of straw can be carried from the field to the sugarcane mill, and 64 % of straw can be separated from cane stalks.

16.3.1 Straw Recovery Way II

Another way of straw recovery is harvesting unburned chopped cane without straw removal. Straw and cane stalks are transported from the field to the mill while both are separated in a dry cleaning station. About 95 % of straw can be transported in this way. But only 66 % of straw can be recovered, and 29 % of straw can be crushed with cane stalk in the mill.

16.3.2 Straw Recovery Way HI

Unburned chopped sugarcane may be harvested with the help of partial cleaning. A specific amount of the sugarcane straw is left on the ground, and the rest of the straw is transported from the field to the mill with the sugarcane stalks. Sugarcane straw is separated from the stalk in a dry cleaning station in the sugarcane mill. 71 % of straw can be transported from the field to the mill, and 50 % of straw can be separated from cane stalks.

The pathogen load during algal cultivation using waste water is another major chal­lenge. A large number of bacteria present in waste water can impede microalgae growth by competing for space and nutrients, and bacteria grow faster than microal­gae. To cope with that, pre-disinfection steps have been devised by the scientists. Using ultraviolet (UV) radiation is one of the options, because UV may be used to dis-infect the influent (in-coming waste water) to achieve the desired microbial load. Moreover, it is believed that the UV disinfection as a pretreatment prior to the HRAP does not only ensure the microbiological quality of the effluent but also increase the microalgae productivity (Cho et al. 2011). After a pre-disinfection step, the loads of bacteria and protozoa which negatively affect microalgae growth are reduced.

Based on this concept, a recent study was conducted in a collaborative research project between Federal University of Vigosa, Brazil and National Laboratory of Energy and Geology, Lisbon, Portugal (Santiago et al. 2013) , using HRAPs. The study included pretreatment methods with the objective to evaluate the influence of UV pre-disinfection on algal productivity in HRAPs waste water treatment perfor­mance. Chlorella sp. was used in this study as a test microalga. The use of UV in HRAPs indicated that pre-disinfection may cause dominance of certain species; how­ever, the recycling of settled biomass seems to be more effective for that purpose. Pre-disinfection is then responsible for maintaining high algae/bacteria ratios. It was shown that pre-disinfection by UV radiation increased algal biomass productivity. The percentage of chlorophyll “a” in relation to total biomass (VSS) was greater in the UV-irradiated HRAP. However, if total biomass productivity is considered, the system without pre-disinfection (HRAP) was more efficient. Treatment efficiencies were similar for both ponds, despite the greater photosynthetic activity in the UV-HRAP, as shown by the higher dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH values and greater percentage of chlorophyll “a.” Similar studies may be planned under different cli­matic conditions across the globe to evaluate the worldwide potential of the concept.

Bamboo is one of the oldest and most versatile constructing materials. Bamboo has certain qualities due to which it can be used for construction purposes. These quali­ties include its hardness and lightweight. Bamboo does not require processing or finishing. Bamboo constructions are strong and resistant to even earth quakes (Jayanetti 2000). Bamboo fibers are used in concrete reinforcement, bamboo fenc­ing, and housing (Diver 2001). It can be used as reinforcement alternative to steel in concrete due to its high specific strength, tensile strength, tensile modulus, hard­ness, and other mechanical properties (Youngsi 2007). Studies on microstructure of bamboo reveal that bamboo is functionally gradient material. This property can be used for the formation of reinforced concrete composites, which can be used in construction of strong buildings (Ghavami 2005; Aziz et al. 1981). Bamboo is used for concrete composite reinforcement (Lima et al. 2008).