Biomass Energy Resources: Feedstock Quality and Bioenergy Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

Renewable energies play a key role in the transition toward a world where sustainability, particularly environmental, is increasingly viewed as an unavoidable goal. In this context, dedicate and residual biomass plays a leading role in heat and power production. Due to an increased interest in sustainability and circular economy, in the last few years, more attention has been paid to the use of residual biomass which, however, is characterized by low quality and heterogeneity.

All these aspects and the consequent variety of origin and source of biomass for energy use, the different supply chain, different logistics, organizational complexity, and technological levels produce impacts on the characteristics of biofuel and their level of sustainability. These latter two aspects appear to be independent but are actually closely connected, entailing significant economic and environmental impact implications.

Biomass properties and sustainability help to define a new way of understanding the quality of biofuels. This change of perspective implies a decisive role for policy decision, development of technical regulations and, in general, in the operational choices of biomass supply chain stakeholders. Thus, a research effort is required to exploit the available biomass materials, especially less traditional ones, through the development of innovative production processes and measurement systems, to produce sustainable biofuels and bioenergy.

In this perspective, this Special Issue aims to collect research articles or comprehensive reviews focused on the abovementioned contents.

Subjects welcomed are listed below:

- Sustainability assessment of bioenergy production chains;

- Evaluation of biomass feedstock and effect on biofuel quality;

- Investigation of biomass properties and biofuel production;

- Innovative processes for the energy valorization of residual biomass materials;

- Innovative systems for biomass quality assessment.

In general terms, considerations and observations concerning the effects of biomass quality on bioenergy sustainability will be appreciated.

Prof. Dr. Daniele Duca
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Toscano
Guest Editors

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