Introduction to agriculture-bioenergy nexus

Abstract

Growing challenges such as environmental pollution, climate change, and fast-depleting fossil fuel sources have pushed toward the integration of agriculture and bioenergy as probable solutions. Food grains, crop-forest residues, energy crops, and livestock waste can be used for sustainable energy generation. This chapter is an introduction to the book Agriculture-Bioenergy Nexus: Transforming Waste into Wealth, providing an introductory piece on the role of crops, conversion technologies, and tools for agro-waste valorization for bioenergy and value-added product generation. Several conversion technologies, such as pyrolysis, gasification, and hydrothermal liquefaction, have been introduced that facilitate the conversion of biomass to biofuels such as bioalcohol, biodiesel, biogas, and biohydrogen. The chapter also briefly presents advances in agro-biomass pretreatment technologies that can help in the enhancement of fermentation efficiency and biochemical conversions. To further evaluate the feasibility and sustainability of these conversion technologies, there is a need for technoeconomic assessment (TEA) and life cycle assessments (LCA)

thus, they will also be discussed in the chapter. This chapter highlights the need to integrate agriculture with bioenergy to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, mitigate climate change, promote energy security, provide economic security to farmers, and provide a roadmap for a more sustainable future. Despite several challenges, from the collection of biomass to the efficiency of conversion technologies such as pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, market scalability, continuous research, and policy interventions at national and international levels, can drive the widespread adoption of bioenergy solutions. © 2026 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved..