Biomass (Pre)Treatments or Conversion

**3**

**Chapter 1**

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

wastes".

Introduction

*Abdurrahman Garba*

scale green sustainable biomass product.

UNFCCC in 2005 [1], defined it as follows;

Biomass Conversion Technologies

Over the last century, there has been increasing debate concerning the use of biomass for different purposes such as foods, feeds, energy fuels, heating, cooling and most importantly biorefinery feedstock. The biorefinery products were aimed to replace fossil fuels and chemicals as they are renewable form of energy. Biomass is a biodegradable product from agricultural wastes and residues, forestry and aquaculture. Biomass could be sourced from a variety of raw materials such as wood and wood processing by-products, manure, fractions of organic waste products and agricultural crops. As a form of renewable energy, they have the advantages of easy storage, transportation, flexible load utilization and versatile applications. The aim of this study is to provide an overview for thermochemical and biochemical biomass conversion technologies that were employed currently. Attention was also paid to manufacture of biofuels because of their potentials as key market for large-

**Keywords:** biomass, bioenergy, biochemicals, conversion routes, green chemistry

Biomass can be regarded as any organic material that originated from plants or animals. Thus, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

"A non-fossilized and biodegradable organic material originating from plants,

animals and micro-organisms. This shall also include products, by-products, residues and waste from agriculture, forestry and related industries as well as the non-fossilized and biodegradable organic fractions of industrial and municipal

The world's energy demand has been steadily increasing in the last several decades. This is due to rapid increase in industrialization, population and the quest for improvement of the living standards for societies. On the other hand, this has caused an irreversible damage to the environment which leads to global warming, and climate change. These issues have been the topic of discussion among scientist and policy makers at national and international levels on how to mitigate the problem. The modern society is emphasizing on shift from non-renewable to renewable energy (such as wind, solar, tide, geothermal and biomass) in their search for energy source. Before the discovery of fossil fuels such as petroleum products, coal, and natural

for Bioenergy Generation: An
