Enhanced Bioethanol Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass: Pretreatment, Microbial Engineering and Process Optimization

The field of renewable biofuels is increasingly focusing on lignocellulosic biomass as a key feedstock for sustainable bioethanol production. Despite the abundance and low cost of lignocellulosic materials, their complex and recalcitrant structure can present barriers to efficient bioconversion. Current research is actively exploring mechanisms to enhance the accessibility of cellulose and hemicellulose, improve hydrolysis efficiency, and upgrade both fermentation technologies and overall process integration. Recent advances in pretreatment techniques, ranging from novel chemical methods to biological approaches, have yielded considerable improvements in biomass deconstruction, informing more effective downstream enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. Advances in metabolic and microbial engineering are also enabling the conversion of mixed sugar streams, while novel process configurations, such as consolidated bioprocessing, offer opportunities for further intensification and cost reduction. However, many hurdles remain, including inhibitor formation during pretreatment, suboptimal co-fermentation of pentoses and hexoses, and persistent challenges in translating laboratory successes to commercially viable scales.This Research Topic aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how innovative pretreatment, microbial engineering, and process optimization strategies can be integrated to maximize bioethanol yields from lignocellulosic biomass. Sources of lignocellulosic biomass include: agricultural residues, forestry residues, wood waste, energy crops, and municipal and industrial waste. A particular emphasis is placed on the development of strains with improved inhibitor resistance and sugar utilization and integration of metabolic pathways for enhanced productivityThis Research Topic welcomes fundamental and applied investigations into every stage of lignocellulosic bioethanol production, excluding non-bioethanol biofuel processes and feedstocks other than lignocellulose. We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Methods, Data and Perspective articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Innovative physical, chemical, and biological pretreatment methods• Engineering and optimization of enzymes for efficient hydrolysis• Development of robust microbial hosts for mixed sugar fermentation• Metabolic pathway engineering and systems biology approaches• Process integration, intensification, and consolidated bioprocessing (CBP)• Inhibitor mitigation and tolerance mechanisms in microbial strainsPlease note that Microbiotechnology does not consider descriptive studies that are solely based on amplicon (e.g., 16S rRNA) profiles or comparisons of nucleic acid extracts (e.g., metagenomics), unless they are accompanied by a clear hypothesis and experimentation and provide insight into the microbiological system or process being studied. Topic editors: Yun-Peng Chao, Annamalai Neelamegam Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84412/enhanced-bioethanol-production-from-lignocellulosic-biomass-pretreatment-microbial-engineering-and-process-optimization