Chemical and Biochemical Processes for Energy Sources

Dear Colleagues,

Chemistry and energy production always have been interrelated through the years. Currently, these interconnections have become more intensive and diverse because of the problems due to fossil fuel exhaustion and the adverse effects of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from intensive human activity.

One of the possible solutions for the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases is the application of renewable energy sources of biological origin to produce biofuels, e.g., bioethanol, biogas, and biodiesel. There is another topic of fundamental and practical interest. It is the production of hydrogen from biomass through fermentation methods. Although the practical results of this research are still modest, any future development in this area are of practical interest.

Besides the traditional processes of combustion, in recent decades a big share of chemical and mainly electrochemical methods have been studied and applied. The use of hydrogen in fuel cell equipment is one example of these applications. Other sources for electricity generation in fuel cells are carbon monoxide and methane. In recent years, hydrogen sulfide has become another attractive source for energy production combined with environmental effects.

A recent and very extensively growing topic of research is on microbial fuel cell applications for combined wastewater treatment and energy production. Although the power densities in this process are low, the microbial fuel cells enable straightforward processes of pollutant destruction compared to the traditional chemical methods.

The research and efforts for the utilization of waste carbon dioxide are growing in recent years. The use of CO₂ for production of lipids by photosynthesis of algae in later production of biodiesel is the subject of many studies. Other efforts are based on chemical and electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide into useful chemicals and fuels. The present issue is an attempt to present new and attractive chemical and biological methods for energy production with their advantages and applications in different areas of human activities.

Prof. Dr. Venko N. Beschkov
Prof. Dr. Konstantin Petrov
Topic Editors