Oleaginous biomass for biofuels, biomaterials, and chemicals

Abstract

Concerns about negative environmental impacts and questions of future availability surrounding the long-term use of fossil sources as a basis for production of fuels, and a plethora of derivatives, are matters of increasing importance. Consequently, plant biomass sources capable of efficiently replacing fossil fuel resources are gaining relevance as biofuels and in the oleochemical industry. The array of chemical compositions of vegetable oils and fats, the possibility of producing biomass in a sustainable way, and the development of routes for their transformation are the main drivers of this growing demand. This chapter covers topics of global production and consumption of the principal vegetable oil commodities, the comparative chemical composition of oils and fats, the potential use of the biological storage structures of oils and fats, the main processes of transforming oils into biofuels, and the production of bio-based polymers. Also, mechanisms of the functionalization of vegetable oils are stressed.