New Trends in Research and Utilization of Solar Energy through Biological Systems

Front Matter....Pages 1-8
Solar energy through biology: fuels from biomass....Pages 9-16
Solar energy and agriculture....Pages 16-19
Sugar crops as a solar energy converter....Pages 19-24
Plants as a direct source of fuel....Pages 24-28
Wood as biomass for energy: results of a problem analysis....Pages 28-33
Leaf protein as a food source....Pages 34-37
The ocean as a supplier of food and energy....Pages 37-41
Mass production of microalgae....Pages 42-46
Mass production of Spirulina ....Pages 46-49
Microorganisms as hydrocarbon producers....Pages 49-52
The production of hydrocarbons by Botryococcus braunii ....Pages 53-55
Glycerol production by Dunaliella ....Pages 55-58
Photosynthetic production of ammonia....Pages 59-64
Hydrogen production by algae....Pages 65-70
Hydrogen production by photosynthetic bacteria....Pages 70-72
Agricultural biomass for fuel....Pages 73-79
Ethanol from cellulose....Pages 79-84
Degradation of cellulose....Pages 84-87
Biodegradation of lignin: Biochemistry and potential applications....Pages 87-94
Aromatic chemicals through anaerobic microbial conversion of lignin monomers....Pages 95-104
Lignochemicals....Pages 104-117
Methane formation and cellulose digestion — biochemical ecology and microbiology of the rumen ecosystem....Pages 117-120
Ecology of methanogenic systems in nature....Pages 121-126
Biochemistry of methanogenesis....Pages 126-129
Engineering, operation and economics of methane gas production....Pages 129-133
Biogas production from agricultural wastes....Pages 134-137
Possibilities of gas utilization with special emphasis on small sanitary landfills....Pages 137-145
Methanol from methane — a hypothetical microbial conversion compared with the chemical process....Pages 146-151
Artificial photosynthetic systems....Pages 151-156
Concluding remarks....Pages 156-156