Application of Nanotechnology in Improving the Biofuel Generation

Résumé ou Introduction

For centuries, energy crisis has been a major challenge that has affected economic development in almost all nations around the globe. As a result, so as to meet the severity of this day-to-day requirement, different nations have shifted their focus towards alternative energy sources that contain diverse energetic potential, and have the ability of meeting the economic concerns among nations. Bioenergy is one of the main non-conventional resources of energy that is comprised of energy obtained from life forms (Malik, & Sangwan, 2012). High dependence on conventional sources of energy that have been directly or even indirectly obtained from fossil fuels, for example, petroleum and coal have demonstrated detrimental effects on the environment in different nations worldwide. Bioresources are eco-friendly because they are not created, are self-prevalent and everywhere, not to mention that they do not leave toxic end products after processing. Some of the major bioresources include biomass, carcasses, dead plants and cow-dung. However, there is limited biomass utilization in energetic application due to inadequate biochemical modification techniques that may facilitate profitability. Nanotechnology refers to a new dimension of material sciences that targets entities miniaturization so as to achieve improved performance through functionalities improvement. It is a dimension that is multidisciplinary in nature since it originates from diverse, overlapping natural sciences fields. It is a technology that has provided faster and reliable methods of optimizing energy generation from the bio-sources. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to explore the use of biomass and nanotechnology as alternative energy source.