Veera Gnaneswar Gude, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Mississippi State University (MSU). A prolific author of journal articles, book chapters, and more, he has over 15 years of academic, research, and industrial experience in biofuels, desalination, and water/wastewater treatment in scientific and technological areas. He has delivered many invited lectures, keynote speeches, and scientific research and educational presentations. He has organized many workshops on water-energy-environment nexus topics at national and international conferences and was the chair and board representative for the clean energy and water division of the American Solar Energy Society between 2011 and 2016. He is a member of several editorial boards and editor for many scientific journals, including ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering. His research is supported by many organizations, including NSF, USEPA, USGS, USDA, and many industrial and international agencies.
This invaluable book provides detailed information on the green chemistry reaction pathways and engineering principles, addressing the main issues and various technologies that are essential for transforming renewable and alternative feedstocks to carbon neutral biofuels. The editor and authors are to be commended for constructing this high quality collection that will be greatly useful for engineers, researchers, scientists, and industrial professionals to develop a robust synergy between bio- and oil refineries. The catalytic and non-catalytic green process advancements and engineering breakthroughs demonstrated in this volume are the essential building blocks to solve the scale-up challenges in the commercial biofuel production. A sustainable platform for production of value-added bioproducts such as bio-based chemicals, solvents, polymers, and lubricants are also discussed for creating new revenue streams, market opportunities, and cost savings in the conversion of biomass to green refinery transportation blendstock. Apart from the technological information on biofuels, the book also deals with the economic feasibility aspects, energy efficiency analyses, life-cycle assessment, and biorefinery-based revolutionary approaches for sustainable production of high quality biofuels. --Prafulla D. Patil, PhD, Research & Development Engineer, American Refining Group, Inc., Bradford, Pennsylvania