Investigating maize as a sustainable energy crop for bioethanol production: Delineating cultivation, utilization, biotechnological and environmental perspectives

Abstract

Biofuels are becoming viable alternatives to fossil fuels in the recent times due to rapidly declining supply of the latter. Ethanol production using agricultural feedstock is promoted to meet the increasing energy demands, mitigate environmental challenges presented by conventional fossil fuels and boost economic conditions in agro-energy sector. Among cereals, maize holds a prominent position in terms of global production, after wheat and rice, and is a fundamental ingredient in several agro-based industries. Including maize as a raw material in the production chain of biofuels requires a thorough analysis of market aspects, locally and globally, while gaining a proper understanding of the energy matrix involved in the technical process. This work proposes the inclusion of maize as a raw material for first- and second-generation ethanol production and highlights its role in environmental, social, economic, and energy-based development. The production and utilization of maize crop by the top global producers, the United States, for instance, and the rapidly growing economies, e.g., India, have been studied with an aim to compare the progress and strategies adopted to reduce dependence on imported petroleum products. Recent trends in maize cultivation and export, its utilization pattern, bioprocess defining factors and their optimization, microbial strain improvement, improved fermentation technologies, and various other strategies to enhance maize bioethanol production systems have been discussed. Further, this study discusses the removal of bottlenecks in bioethanol expansion, blending policies and biotechnological advances for improving biofuel production.