Biomass: Challenges and Future Perspectives

The use of biomass as renewable energy could address 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the need to resolve current challenges confronting its’ adoption, sustainable widespread acceptance and commercialization has remained. This calls for technological advancement, community-based renewable energy production using combined expertise, academia–industry collaboration, enforcement of policies in developing countries, and international bench-marking. To this end, this chapter presents case studies of biomass application in sustainability and in the food industry. We examine the use of selected micro-organisms for sustainable biomass production. This study proposes possible solutions to common misconceptions about sustainability of biomass energy, legal and institutional barriers, social and environmental constraints. Also, the use of first-generation biofuels based on food crops are discouraged because of food insecurity and increased greenhouse gas emissions, which are largely unsustainable.