Opportunities of Doubling Indian Farmers Income by Post Harvest Value Addition to Agricultural Produce

The governments across the developing countries are facing a challenge of steadily increasing population,maintaining balance in demand and supply of food and upliftment in socio-economic status of farming community.Among the leading developing countries,India has successfully increased agricultural crop production by fourfold,thus having at most potential for adoption of secondary agriculture practices after harvest of farm produce.Post-harvest processing of agricultural produce like milling of cereals and pulses,extraction of oil from oilseed crops,development of value added ready to eat and ready to serve food product etc.not only facilitate efficient utilization of crop produce but also check losses fetching better returns to the farmers/entrepreneurs.Post-harvest processing operations at the production catchment area helps in minimizing post harvest losses,helps in generating employment opportunities in rural areas,purity assured products in turn open window for the developed products to qualify for wider market.

Integrated lignocellulosic biorefinery:Gateway for production of second generation ethanol and value added products

An increasing demand for energy and depleting petroleum sources has elevated the need for producing alternative renewable resources.Owing to the prominence of lignocellulosic biomass as bio-renewable and the most abundant resource on Earth,this critical review provides perceptions into the potential of lignocellulosic biomass for production of second generation(2G)ethanol and value added products in a biorefinery manner.The efficient utilization of all three components of lignocellulosic biomass(i.e.,cellulose,hemicellulose and lignin)would play a significant role in the economic viability of cellulosic ethanol.The pretreatment method is the key to the success of bioconversion processes and greatly influences the economics of biorefinery process.Biotechnology tools and process engineering play pivotal roles in development of integrated processes for production of biofuels,biochemicals and biomaterials from lignocellulosic biomass.Although,lignocellulosic biorefinery has ample scopes,commercial production of biofuels and chemicals is still challenging.In this context,this review entails concept of lignocellulose biorefinery,latest developments in 2G ethanol production process,importance and market potential of 2G ethanol as renewable fuel and value added chemicals,integration of processes,challenges for integrated production of fuel together with value added chemicals and future directions.

Recent progress on the pretreatment and fractionation of lignocelluloses for biorefinery at QIBEBT

Pretreatment and fractionation are amongst the key steps for the conversion of lignocelluloses to sustainable biofuels,biomaterials or biochemicals,as pretreatment/fractionation can break the natural recalcitrance of lignocelluloses,improving the conversion efficiency of downstream processes.This paper reviews the recent progress on the pretreatment and fractionation of lignocelluloses for biorefinery at the Chinese Academy of Sciences-Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology(QIBEBT).The main technologies developed at the QIBEBT in recent years include alkaline twin-screw extrusion pretreatment,modified alkali pretreatment,hydrogen peroxide-assisted sodium carbonate pretreatment,fractionation with formic acid,as well as the two-step fractionation by hot water treatment coupling ammonium sulfite treatment.With the development of these technologies,a pilot scale platform for the pretreatment and saccharification of biomass has been established in the pilot plant of QIBEBT.