Dr. Pratima Bajpai has a Ph.D from the National Sugar Institute
(NSI), Kanpur, India. She is currently a technical consultant in the pulp and paper industry and
has over 30 years' experience
in research at the National Sugar Institute Kanpur, the University
of Saskatchewan, the University
of Western Ontario in Canada, and the Thapar
Center for Industrial Research and Development in India. She has also worked as
a visiting professor at
the University of Waterloo, Canada, and visiting scientist at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.

Dr. Bajpai's main areas of expertise are
industrial biotechnology, pulp and paper, and environmental biotechnology. She is a recognized expert in industrial biotechnology and has contributed immensely to the field. She is currently actively engaged in
commercializing biotechnological processes for the pulp and paper industry.

Her research accomplishments have resulted in over 150 publications in respected international journals and conference proceedings. She has also
written several advanced technical books on
environmental and biotechnological aspects of pulp and paper, which have been
published by leading publishers - PIRA International, UK; Springer, Germany;
Miller Freeman USA, John Wiley, and Elsevier Science. She has also
contributed chapters to a number of books and encyclopedias,
obtained 11 patents, and has written several technical reports. In addition, she has implemented several
processes in Indian paper mills.
Dr. Bajpai is an active member of the American Society of Microbiologists and
is a reviewer for many
international research journals.

Background and General Introduction.- Structure of
Lignocellulosic Biomass.- Conversion of Biomass to Fuel.- Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic
Biomass.- Summary of Biomass Pretreatment Methods.- Future Perspectives.

The book describes the pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass
for biomass-to-biofuel conversion processes, which is an important step in
increasing ethanol production for biofuels. It also highlights the main
challenges and suggests possible ways to make these technologies feasible for the biofuel industry. The
biological conversion of cellulosic biomass into bioethanol is based on the
chemical and biological breakdown of biomass into aqueous sugars, for example
using hydrolytic enzymes. The fermentable sugars can then be further processed
into ethanol or other advanced biofuels. Pretreatment is required to break down
the lignin structure and disrupt the crystalline structure of cellulose so that
the acids or enzymes can easily access and hydrolyze the cellulose.
Pre-treatment can be the most expensive process in converting biomass to fuel,
but there is great potential for improving the efficiency and lowering costs
through further research and development. This book is aimed at academics and
industrial practitioners who are interested in the higher production of ethanol
for biofuels.