Potential production of bioenergy from biomass in an Indian perspective

Concerns over climate change, fossil fuel depletion, and increase in natural gas prices have sparked a great interest in various forms of renewable energy and its imposition, particularly in developing countries. Biomass is utilized as number one energy resource for developing countries, supplying energy to households for cooking purposes, and signifying about 70-80% of the global bioenergy contributions. India has vast biomass resources and wasteland to support cultivation of bioenergy crops, the potential of that can be harnessed to resolve energy crisis. Bioenergy can contribute to energy security whilst also decreasing the emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels. The objective of this review is to give an overview of biomass energy potential and its utilization in India, state of the art of the technologies used for biomass conversion, and latest development in biomass conversion technologies.