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The present study illustrates optimization and synergetic potential of alga Chlorella pyrenoidosa for lipid production and remediation of Dairy industry wastewater (DIWW) through response surface methodology (RSM). Maximum lipid productivity of 34.41% was obtained under 50% DIWW supplemented with 0 mg L−1 nitrate (NO3−), and 50 mg L−1 phosphate (PO4−3). While maximum biomass productivity (1.54 g L−1) was obtained with 50% DIWW supplemented with 100 mg L−1 NO3−, and 50 mg L−1, PO4−3. Maximum removal of COD (43.47%), NO3− (99.80%) and PO4−3 (98.24%) was achieved with 8th run (75% DIWW, 150 mg L−1 NO3−, 75 mg L−1 PO4−3), 15th run (50% DIWW, 0 mg L−1 NO3−, 50 mg L−1, PO4− 3) followed by 1st run (25% DIWW, 50 mg L−1 NO3−, and 25 mg L−1, PO4−3), respectively. Lipid (bio-oil) obtained from 15th run of experiment was converted in biodiesel through base catalyze transesterification process. Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis of biodiesel confirmed the presence of major fatty acids in C. pyrenoidosa grown in DIWW were C11:0, C14:0, C16:0, C16:1, C18:1 and C18:2. Results of study clearly demonstrate enhanced growth and lipid accumulation by C. pyrenoidosa in surplus PO4−3 and limitation of NO3− sources with DIWW and its suitability as potential alternative for commercial utilization.

Nanoparticles hold great potential in the field of medicine. In this review we have discuuded some of the diseases that are treated by the use of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has gained interest in recent years almost in every field with special emphasis on nanomedicine and nanobiology. Nanosystems with different compositions and biological properties have been extensively investigated for drug and gene delivery applications. However, it is important to understand the interactions of nanomaterials with the biological environment, targeting cell-surface receptors, drug release, multiple drug administration, stability of therapeutic agents under consideration.

The biomass based energy is considered to be a potential renewable energy source similar to wind energy; however, traditional biomass based energy applications in developing country like India has ...

Wild strains of algal biomass, a major contributor for eutrophication in freshwater bodies, can be used as a potential substrate in association with other nutrient-rich biowaste materials like animal excreta and industrial wastewater, for biogas production. This novel concept was experimentally evaluated and analyzed by the modified Gompertz equation for maximum biogas production (μ m), lag phase (λ), and biogas yield (P). The value of correlation coefficient (R 2) was 0.99 at varying temperature ranges (30, 40, and 50 °C). Thermodynamic functions like enthalpy (∆H), entropy (∆S), and Gibb’s free energy (∆G) were evaluated for the chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency. Thermodynamic functions such as ∆G (−), ∆H (+), and ∆S (+) showed the spontaneous and endothermic nature of substrate degradation and biogas production was found to be increased with increasing temperature. So, this novel co-digestion approach using nutrient-rich biowaste materials provides a new insight into biogas production with the aim of waste-to-energy generation.

Potential of Chlorella pyrenoidosa was experimentally investigated for phycoremediation and dye removal from textile wastewater (TWW) in batch cultures. Growth of alga was observed at various concentration of textile wastewater (25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) and was found in a range of 8.1-14 μg ml(-1) day(-1). Growth study revealed that alga potentially grows up to 75% concentrated textile wastewater and reduces phosphate, nitrate and BOD by 87%, 82% and 63% respectively. Methylene blue dye (MB) removal was also observed by using dry and wet algal biomass harvested after phycoremediation. Adsorption isotherms (Langmuir and Freundlich) and kinetic models (pseudo first and second order) were applied on adsorption process. Dry algal biomass (DAB) was found more efficient biosorbent with large surface area and showed high binding affinity for MB dye in compare to wet algal biomass (WAB). The RL value for both biosorbent showed feasible adsorption process as the obtained value was between 0 and 1. Pseudo second order kinetic model with high degree of correlation coefficient and low sum of error squares (SSE %) value was found more suitable for representation of adsorption process in case of both biosorbents, however pseudo first order also showed high degree of correlation for both biosorbents.

In present study, the performance of phytoremediation by Pistia stratiotes on sugar mill effluent (SME) and its end use for biogas production are investigated. The objectives of the study are to determine the nutrient and pollution reduction efficiency of P. stratiotes from SME and evaluation of its biomass as a feedstock for biogas production. Various concentrations of SME (25, 50, 75, and 100%) were remediated by Pistia stratiotes (initial weight; 150 g) outdoor for 60 days under batch mode experimental setup. The results showed that P. stratiotes achieved marked reduction in nutrient (TKN, 72.86%; TP, 71.49%) and pollutant load (EC, 25.69%; TDS, 57.26%; BOD, 69.40%; COD, 61.80%; Ca2+, 56.79%; Mg2+, 55.01%; Na+, 42.86%; K+, 54.38%; MPN, 78.13%; SPC, 60.13%) from 75% SME at the end of the experiment. The highest biomass (328.48 ± 2.04 g) and chlorophyll content (3.62 ± 3.04 mg/g) were also achieved with 75% SME. The dried biomass of P. stratiotes (from 75% SME) was inoculated with cow dung (10% w/v) and diluted with distilled water (1:10). The whole content was used as a substrate for the biogas production within hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 30 days at room temperature. Substrate parameters such as pH, TS (%), COD (mg/L), TKN (%), TOC (%), VS (%), and C/N ratio were reduced from 7.85 to 6.0, 66.65 to 28.65%, 12,900 to 2800 mg/L, 0.95 to 0.75%, 45.54 to 19.5%, 76.87 to 28.78%, and 47.94 to 26.00, respectively, in 30 days of HRT. About 8478.6 mL of cumulative biogas production was evaluated by modified Gompertz equation. Thus, the present investigation not only achieved efficient nutrient and pollution reduction from SME but also proved the potential of P. stratiotes for biogas production.

The present review focuses on the cultivation of algal biomass for generating value-added products (VAP) and to assess their economic benefits and harmful environmental impact. Additionally, the impact of bioreactor designs on the yield of microalgal biomass for VAP is also considered. All these factors are discussed in relation to the impact of microalgae production on the bio-economy sector of commercial biotechnology.

Biohydrogen production by dark fermentation of different waste materials is a promising approach to produce bio-energy in terms of renewable energy exploration. This communication has reviewed various influencing factors of dark fermentation process with detailed account of determinants in biohydrogen production. It has also focused on different factors such as improved bacterial strain, reactor design, metabolic engineering and two stage processes to enhance the bioenergy productivity from substrate. The study also suggest that complete utilization of substrates for biological hydrogen production requires the concentrated research and development for efficient functioning of microorganism with integrated application for energy production and bioremediation. Various studies have been taken into account here, to show the comparative efficiency of different substrates and operating conditions with inhibitory factors and pretreatment option for biohydrogen production. The study reveals that an extensive research is needed to observe field efficiency of process using low cost substrates and integration of dark and photo fermentation process. Integrated approach of fermentation process will surely compete with conventional hydrogen process and replace it completely in future.

Plants are very prone to various stress conditions due to excessive use of chemical-based products and impacts of various living organisms (bacteria, virus, fungi, etc.) with their natural environment. These stresses, if continued for a long period, may affect the growth of plant and productivity to a great extent. Among the various types of stress conditions associated with nutrient, water, soil, and climate-specific stresses can be categorized for better understanding the concept of adaptation in the changing environment. Different types of stresses affect the physiological or metabolic pathways in plants. Water stresses adversely impact the plant physiology especially photosynthetic capacity, drought affects water potential and reduces growth of the plants, excess of nitrogen may cause dehydration of plants, etc. Hence, with these stress conditions arising due to the changes in surrounding environment, plants adapt to different types of physiological, morphological, and genetic changes to ensure their existence on this planet. In the present chapter, different kinds of stresses and their tolerance and adaption mechanism by various plant groups have been discussed in general, but the main focus is given to the C3 and C4 plants in particular. Similarly, impacts of anthropogenic activities responsible for climatic changes or stresses will also be investigated with growth of plants in different habitats and their responses toward these stress conditions.

Modern hospital practices with galloping growth in medical technology facilitate increase human life span, decrease mortality rate and increase natality rate. Life supporting health services generates potentially hazardous and infectious hospital wastes like pharmaceuticals, cottons, food, paper, plastics, radionuclide, sharps, and anatomical parts etc. These wastes are complex in nature with maximum part of municipal solid waste and small part of biomedical waste (anatomical parts, body parts etc.). Improper conduct and management of hospital waste create several problems and nosocomial diseases to human beings and harms environment. Traditional practices included for management are open burning, mixing waste, liquid discharge and waste disposal without treatment normally. Hence, this issue comes in lime light and several guidelines come to sort out this problem. Thus, challenges associated with traditional hospital waste management techniques and modern techniques for management are assessed in general and association with human society in particular in this chapter.

Dry anaerobic digestion (DAD) is an attractive method for the stabilization of solid organic waste with high solid concentration (22–40%). This article provides different aspects for bio-energy production through dry anaerobic digestion suggested by different researchers. Basic fundamental aspects like reactions occurring in the process, microbial species involved in the process, effect of feedstocks and operational parameters like pH, temperature, C/N ratio, VFA concentration, etc. with types of reactors are summarized. A number of scenarios and the effect of changing individual parameters of the environmental impacts of dry anaerobic digestion process for biogas production are considered. Mobility of mass nutrient and energy flow in the above said process are also parts of this review article. We conclude that long term research and development for improvement and optimization of operational parameters in dry anaerobic digestion is necessary.

A comparative study was undertaken using indigenous sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms and iron-oxidizing microorganisms in separate 12 litre continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTRs) for solubilization of heavy metals from anaerobically digested sewage sludge. The CSTRs were operated at hydraulic retention times (HRTs) ranging from 4 to 10 days using sewage sludge feed having near neutral pH. The pH, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and solubilization efficiency of metals were found to be highly dependent on HRT and an increase in HRT led to higher solubilization of metals in both the CSTRs. In both the CSTRs, the CSTR operated with sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms at an HRT of 8 days was found to be optimum in solubilizing 58% Cu, 52% Ni, 72% Zn and 43% Cu from the sludge. The nutrient value, nitrogen and phosphorus of bioleached sludge was also conserved (20% loss) at 8 days HRT. The metals fractionation study conducted using BCR sequential extraction procedure suggested that most of the metals remaining in the bioleached sludge were in the more stable fractions (F3 and F4) and, therefore, can be safely apply as a fertilizer on land.

This study involves a process of phyco-remediation of dairy industry wastewater by algal strain Chlamydomonas polypyrenoideum . The results of selected algal strain indicated that dairy industry wastewater was good nutrient supplement for algal growth in comparable with BG-11 growth medium. Alga grown on dairy industry wastewater reduced the pollution load of nitrate (90%), nitrite (74%), phosphate (70%), chloride (61%), fluoride (58%), and ammonia (90%) on 10th day of its growth as compared to that of uninoculated wastewater. The lipid content of algal biomass grown on dairy wastewater on 10th day (1.6 g) and 15th day (1.2 g) of batch experiment was found to be higher than the lipid content of algal biomass grown in BG-11 growth medium on 10th day (1.27 g) and 15th day (1.0 g) of batch experiment. The results on FTIR analysis of the extracted bio-oil through transesterification reaction was comparable with bio-oil obtained from other sources.

This communication presents the comparative study of two different types of thermal management systems for room’s heating applications using calcium chloride hexahydrate as the thermal energy storage material encapsulated in panels and balls. During the daytime, TMS was outside the test room to store the solar heat in TMS. The solar heat made available to charge the PCM from solid to liquid and to warm the test room throughout the observation period during night time. As the room temperature drops significantly during the night time, so as the level of comfort. Both the thermal management systems have been used to heat the test room during night time and the temperature of the test room has been maintained at thermal comfort level without any conventional source of energy, i.e. using passive system. Also the experimental values were compared with those of the theoretical values and are found in good agreement with each other. Thus, it can be concluded that the experimental study carried out for both the thermal management systems have been validated by theoretical approach or vice versa and hence found to be satisfactory towards the successful operation of these systems.

In this study, harvesting efficiency (HE) of bioflocculant (egg shell) was observed with variation in flocculent concentrations (0–100 mg L−1), temperature (30 °C, 35 °C 40 °C, 45 °C and 50 °C) and variable contact time (0–50 min). It was found maximum (≈95.6%) with 100 mg L−1 bioflocculant concentration whereas influence of temperature was also observed with optimized concentration of bioflocculant (100 mg L−1) at 40 °C (≈98.1%) and 50 °C (≈99.3%), in 30 min of contact time. Significant changes in algal cell structures were also analyzed after exposure to various temperatures with microscopy, SEM (Scanning electron microscopy) and EDS (Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) images with and without bioflocculant. The experimental data was found to be a good fit with pseudo-second order kinetic model. The thermodynamic functions such as ΔG (Gibbs free energy), ΔH (enthalpy), ΔS (entropy) were also determined. The negative value of ΔG and positive value of ΔH and ΔS shows the spontaneous and endothermic nature of flocculation process.

In the present work, the thermal management system (TMS) for cool energy storage has been designed and studied experimentally. A prototype test room was designed to investigate the performance study of the thermal management system (TMS) with different operation conditions to maintain the temperature in under comfort range. The room air temperature, ambient temperature and PCM temperature at different locations were measured continuously. The TMS has sixty PCMs based high density polyethylene panels. The experimental room temperature was maintained between 22 and 24 °C during the cool energy storage in TMS. The different heat loads were used to know the real performance of TMS system for maintaining the experimental room temperature. The results of the study showed that there is a significant variation in the time duration to exceed the thermal comfort temperature with different heat loads. The experimental room temperature was maintained at 9 h, 3:30 h and 2:30 h in the presence of thermal management system with different heat loads. In other words, the temperature profile of the test room with room heater of 1 kW is found to be longest when it is used in the presence of TMS, while it is found to be the shortest in the case of 3 kW room heater without TMS. Thus it can be concluded that the TMS can maintain the room air temperature for long time even with an active heating load and hence, the TMS used in this study is a good alternative for both passive and active building space conditioning applications.

This communication presents an integrated approach to study the potential of Chlorella pyrenoidosa for treatment of dairy wastewater (DWW) and biofuel extraction. The experiment was set up in two steps. The step-1 of the experiment was designed for treatment of dairy wastewater. The physical and chemical parameters of wastewater quality such as nitrate, phosphate, chloride, fluoride, hardness, etc., were studied. The level of nitrate and phosphate known, agents of eutrophication in water bodies was reduced by 60% and 87% in influent, 49% and 83% in the effluent, respectively. The step-2 of the experiment was designed for biofuel extraction by harvesting the biomass (algal strain) grown in dairy waste water. The result of this study shows that algal strain C. pyrenoidosa is not only an agent for mitigation of pollutant load, but it can also be used as potential agent for biofuel production.

Hydrogen generation from wastewater is one of the promising approaches through biological route. So, exploitation of wastewater as substrate for hydrogen production with concurrent wastewater treatment is an attractive and effective way of tapping clean energy from renewable resources in a sustainable approach. In this direction, considerable interest is observed on various biological routes of hydrogen production using bio-photolysis, photo fermentation and heterotrophic dark fermentation process or by a combination of these processes. Therefore, in this communication, utilizing industrial wastewater as primary substrate for dark fermentation process is reviewed and different parametric aspects associated with this sustainable approach for better energy production is discussed. The industrial wastewaters that could be the source for bio hydrogen generation, such as rice slurry wastewater, food and domestic wastewaters, citric acid wastewater and paper mill wastewater, are also discussed in this article.

Biomass is indirect source of solar energy and it is renewable in nature. It is one of the most important energy source in near future because of its extensive spread availability and promising potential to reduce global warming. Thermo chemical conversion of biomass yield variety of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels and have equal importance both at industrial and ecological point of views. Present review gives holistic view of various thermo-chemical conversion route of biomass. Gasification technology, pyrolysis options and scope of potential by product from there routes like hydrogen and charcoal production comprehensively reviewed with present context.

In order to produce process heat for drying of agricultural, textile, marine products, heating of buildings and re-generating dehumidify agent, solar energy is one of the promising heat sources for meeting energy demand without putting adverse impact of environment. Hence it plays a key role for sustainable development. Solar energy is intermittent in nature and time dependent energy source. Owing to this nature, PCMs based thermal energy storage system can achieve the more popularity for solar energy based heating systems. The recent researches focused on the phase change materials (PCMs), as latent heat storage is more efficient than sensible heat storage. In this paper an attempt has been made to present holistic view of available solar air heater for different applications and their performance.

The energy crisis and environmental degradation are currently two vital issues for global sustainable development. Rapid industrialization and population explosion in India has led to the migration of people from villages to cities, which generate thousands tons of municipal solid waste daily, which is one of the important contributors for environmental degradation at national level. Improper management of municipal solid waste (MSW) causes hazards to inhabitants. The management of MSW requires proper infrastructure, maintenance and upgrade for all activities. The MSWM (municipal solid waste management) system comprises with generation, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing and disposal of solid wastes. In the present study, an attempt has been made to provide a comprehensive review of MSW management to evaluate the current status of waste to energy facilities for sustainable management, which will be helpful in tackling this huge quantity of waste and the problem of energy crisis. A critical review of known MSW management practices/processes in Indian scenario, which will give an idea to investors about the market potential, the maturity of the practicing technologies, and the environmental and economical aspects was also evaluated with its advantages and disadvantages.

Nowadays, energy is key consideration in discussions of sustainable development. So, sustainable development requires a sustainable supply of clean and affordable renewable energy sources that do not cause negative societal impacts. Energy sources such as solar radiation, the winds, waves and tides are generally considered renewable and, therefore, sustainable over the relatively long term. Wastes and biomass fuels are usually viewed as sustainable energy sources. Wastes are convertible to useful energy forms like hydrogen (biohydrogen), biogas, bioalcohol, etc., through waste-to-energy technologies. In this article, possible future energy utilization patterns and related environmental impacts, potential solutions to current environmental problems and renewable energy technologies and their relation to sustainable development are discussed with great emphasis on waste-to-energy routes (WTERs).

Agricultural nanotechnology has emerged in the late 1990s and is developed and applied all over the world. However, this technology has not developed so fast in different sectors of agriculture. This has not even found its market to the expected scale but has the potential to improve agricultural production. This agro nanotechnology can be utilized for developing healthy seeds that can improve plant germination, growth, yield, and quality. This technology has the potential to increase the storage period for vegetables and fruits. Organic pesticides and fertilizers can be developed by the proper use of agro nano technology. It has found it’s use in genetic engineering and plant breeding. However, the application of nanotechnology provides numerous advantages related to food safety and quality, at the same time it may present a potential risk not only to human health, but can affect animals and the environment as well as nanoparticles may have toxicological effects on biological systems.

A wide variety of processes are available for hydrogen production from gaseous or liquid fuels. They differ according to the nature of the primary fuel used (ammonia, methanol, ethanol, gaseous or liquid hydrocarbons, water) and to the chemical reactions involved (decomposition, steam reforming, partial oxidation, electrolysis, gasification). As recent technology progress makes hydrogen a realistic long-term energy option with little or no pollution, developments of new methods for its production and improvement of conventional technology are important. This paper analyzes the recent development of hydrogen production technologies followed by an overview of conventional and renewable energy sources and a discussion about enviro-economic aspects for hydrogen production methods. The results show that although renewable energy resources cannot entirely satisfy the energy demand but electrolysis associated with solar energy, wind power, hydropower and biomass are available renewable sources for significant hydrogen production.

The present review paper reports the synthesis methods, status, prospects for further development, and sensingapplications of spinel ferrites. It introduces the inspiration of the nanostructured ferrites as gas sensors. It also explainsthe types of gas sensors, sensing mechanism and requirement of liquefied petroleum gas sensor.

This chapter reviews the bioprocess routes for algal-based biohydrogen production. Important factors such as pH, nutrients, light, immobilisation, substrates, inoculums, and reactors have been taken as prime objectives in this study. Highlights associated with economical stresses and major bottlenecks (in R&D and for commercialization) with biophotolysis (BP) and dark fermentation (DF) process routes are also reviewed with respect to the last 10 years of research-based data. The environmental benefits of biohydrogen economy in general are also reviewed very briefly to achieve a sustainable, economic, and viable evaluation of the bioprocesses. Hence, this study provides an overview of the better options available in algal-based biohydrogen production from lab scale to commercial scale.

Dark fermentation is an efficient way for the degradation of organic matter with the help of microorganism. It basicallydeals with the organic matter present in the solid or liquid waste. The anaerobic microbes such as Clostridium,Enterobacter, Escherichia etc. are found to be potential to degrade the organic matter in the useful product such ashydrogen and methane. The enormous type of waste such as industrial waste water , industrial sludge, and other organicwaste can be degrade in the useful product such as hydrogen, alcohol and methane by dark fermentation but it is mostlyperform for the production of hydrogen as well as methane. Conversion of substrate to hydrogen perform by a series ofbiochemical reactions and microorganisms and it is still inefficient. In the fermentative process most of the organicfraction remains as soluble fermentation products such as acetic, propionic, butyric acid and ethanol. In spite of theoreticalconversion efficiency of 33% only 15% of the energy from the organic source is typically obtained in the form of hydrogenand remaining 67-85% of the substrate remains unused. One way to utilize the remaining organic matter in a usable formfor energy production is to produce methane.

In this paper, effect of input voltage to the electrodes on hydrogen production rate (HPR) and efficiency ( η ) of hydrogen production was studied. The input DC voltage to the cell was maintained at 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4, 3.0, 6.0, 9.0 and 12.0 V. The optimum input voltage was found between 2.0 and 2.4 V for the best efficiency. The extra-over potential voltage to the electrodes would be the cause of energy loss through heat. Sensitivity analysis of the system for voltage with respect to HPR has been carried out and the results are also presented in the paper.

In the present study, calorific value of different fuel wood biomass and its consumption patterns of the plantation forest in rural area of Kahinure (Distt Mau) Uttar Pradesh, India had been evaluated. A questionnaire survey of random sampling method was employed for 180 households to understand socio-economic conditions and energy use pattern for cooking purposes in the study area. The study reveals that fuel wood was largely utilised as noncommercial and cheap source of energy, followed by dung cake and agriculture residue. The highest calorific value was estimated by Prosopis juliflora (22.56 MJ/kg) followed in Terminalia arjuna (21.63 MJ/kg) and Pithecellobium dulce (20.67 MJ/kg), whereas the lowest value was found in Streblus asper (17.32 MJ/kg). About 65% of household energy consumption was in form of wood biomass fuel derived from the plantation forest. The cow dung was used by 22% households and agriculture residue by 12%. About 1.3% people used kerosene for cooking. Average cooking time was estimated at 4.46 h/day/family, and average value of fuel wood consumption was estimated at 4.5 t/family/year, whereas average market value of annual consumption of fuel wood had been calculated as Rs 8,700.00 per households. Due to poor socio-economic situations in the village, a significant amount of fixed carbon of plantation forest was used for cooking of food which could be saved by providing them renewable source of energy for cooking or cooking gas cylinders.

In this technical note, the electrolysis of a synthetic alkaline electrolyte was carried out at different temperatures varying between 10°C and 80°C and the effect of temperature on the rate of hydrogen production was studied. It was found that at a higher temperature of the electrolyte the rate of production of hydrogen was higher. However, the rise in the efficiency of the production of hydrogen was not significant at higher temperatures.

Biomass is indirect source of solar energy and it is renewable in nature. It is one of the most important energy source in near future because of its extensive spread availability and promising potential to reduce global warming. Thermo chemical conversion of biomass yield variety of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels and have equal importance both at industrial and ecological point of views. Present review gives holistic view of various thermo-chemical conversion route of biomass. Gasification technology, pyrolysis options and scope of potential by product from there routes like hydrogen and charcoal production comprehensively reviewed with present context.

The growing concerns over fossil fuel depletion, energy crisis and climate change have raised the interest of scientists for bioenergy production on marginalised lands. Cultivating bioenergy crops on marginalised lands is regarded as alternative source of cultivating energy as it utilises the marginal land for growing such biomass that can be used for bioenergy production. It is economical scaledup process that contributes in not only mitigating energy crisis, but also helps in reclaiming marginalised lands. Bioenergy crops have wide prospective in contributing to a major portion of world's energy needs while reducing the rate of emission of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Production of bioenergy crop on marginal land is clean, simple, environment friendly and economic way of combating a series of environmental problems. Government needs to provide subsidy and incentives to promote bioenergy production on marginalised lands so that it reaches the longterm vision of achieving sustainable development goals.

The farm scale trials were conducted to explore the applicability of corn steep liquor (CSL)for the qualitative improvement and quantitative yield of moong bean (Vigna radiata), rice (Oryzae sativa) and wheat (Triticum aestivum). While the yields of these crops with water spray served as the control, those with CSL spray served as an experimental. The grain yields obtained with CSL spray were compared with those obtained by the spray of an imported product, Aminos, to find out if CSL could serve as a cost-effective import substitute. In the case of the moong bean, the CSL spray afforded a 17% increase in production compared with the Aminos spray and the control, besides improving germination viability and sweetness. In the case of rice, the yield afforded by the spray of CSL, Aminos and control were comparable. However, CSL and Aminos sprays produced a 23% and 17% higher protein content and 8% and 4% more breakables during polishing respectively, compared with the control. In the case of wheat, CSL and Aminos sprays afforded an 8 ± 2% increased production over the control, besides promoting better germination viability and water extractables.

A comprehensive review of various processes and possible sources of hydrogen production are discussed in this paper. The various process for hydrogen production reviewed includes industrial process i.e. steam reforming, thermal cracking, partial oxidation of fossil fuels, coal gasification, electrolysis, thermochemical etc. and new emerging processes like photolysis, photo-voltaic electrolysis, photochemical, photobiological, pyrolysis, etc.

The future supply of energy to meet growing energy demand of rapidly exapanding populations is based on wide energy resources, particularly the renewable ones. Among all resources, lignocellulosic biomasses such as agriculture, forest, and agro-industrial residues are the most abundant and easily available bioresource for biorefineries to provide fuels, chemicals, and materials. However, pretreatment of biomass is required to overcome the physical and chemical barriers that exist in the lignin-carbohydrate composite and pretreatment facilitate the entry of biocatalysts for the conversion of biomass into fermentable sugars and other by-products. Therefore, pretreatment of the biomass is necessary prerequisite for efficient hydrolysis of lignocelluloses into different type of fermentable sugars. The physiochemical, biochemical and biological pretreatment methods are considered as most promising technologies for the biomass hydrolysis and are discussed in this review article. We also discussed the recent advancements and modern trends in pretreatment methods of lignocelluloses conversion into ethanol with special focus on fermentation methods.