Fueling the future with biomass: Processes and pathways for a sustainable supply of hydrocarbon fuels and biogas.

Global economic growth, wealth and security rely upon the availability of cheap, mostly fossil-derived energy and chemical compounds. The replacement by sustainable resources is widely discussed. However, the current state of biotechnological processes usually restricts them to be used as a true alternative in terms of economic feasibility and even sustainability. Among the rare examples of bioprocesses applied for the energetic use of biomass are biogas and bioethanol production. Usually, these processes lack in efficiency and they cannot be operated without the support of legislation. Although they represent a first step towards a greater share of bio-based processes for energy provision, there is no doubt that tremendous improvements in strain and process development, feedstock and process flexibility as well as in the integration of these processes into broader supply and production networks, in this review called smart bioproduction grids, are required to make them economically attractive, robust enough, and wider acceptance by society. All this requires an interdisciplinary approach, which includes the use of residues in closed carbon cycles and issues concerning the process safety. This short review aims to depict some of the promising strategies to achieve an improved process performance as a basis for future application.