Parallel to the use of agriculture residues instead of whole food crops as feedstock for biofuel generation, the use of whole non-food crops is also gaining popularity as feedstock for biomass conversion. Dedicated non-food crops which can be grown on unproductive lands are being considered as a more practical and eco­nomical option to even agricultural residues, as feedstock for biorefineries (whole crop biorefineries), as these would not use agricultural land for their generation as also, the entire plant could be used as feedstock. Such a whole crop biorefinery using the Jatropha plant for sustainable production of biodiesel has been described by Naik et al. [40]. Such a biorefinery can produce biodiesel as the main product, along with the production of other valuable chemicals as by-products from the solid residue obtained from the production of biodiesel. The oil cake remaining after removal of oil can be used to generate second-generation biofuelsand other important chemicals. The scheme for such a whole crop biorefinery using dedi­cated oil crops is shown in Fig. 1.23.

Takara et al. [41] investigated the suitability of banagrass for production of biofuel in a biorefinery concept. Banagrass (Pennisetum purpureum) is a perennial grass which is a good source of lignocellulosic biomass. Banagrass resembles sugarcane but shows a yield double to that of sugarcane and switchgrass in terms of biomass. A new concept of wet or green processing has been proposed. The biomass is taken as such without drying and subjected to dilute acid hydrolysis. It was found that the yield of fermentable sugars after the wet, juice processing was the maximum compared to dry, juice processing. This hydrolysate can be pro­cessed further for serving as a substrate for fermentation to ethanol. The process has a particular advantage in regions where banagrass can be grown throughout the year in that, it will reduce the time and cost of drying the biomass prior to pretreatment for extraction of cellulose. Co-products can also be obtained from the

nutrient-rich liquid substrates generated out of wet processing, which would be otherwise destroyed during downstream processing of the biomass. The biorefin­ery concept in this case offers a unique flexibility such that in times when the commodity value of ethanol is less, the process can be adapted such that the nitrogen-rich juice is utilized for the production of fungal biomass and aquaculture feed. The nitrogen-free clean fiber can be used for heat/steam electricity generation via gasification, whereas in times of high demand for ethanol, the process is used for the generation of ethanol.