Assessing biorefineries

Book chapter, 2012

Biomass, a product of the solar energy influx and the synthesis of carbon dioxide and water, has been used since the dawn of humanity, always as a source of food and as a source of energy and materials since the invention of controlled fire and simple tools some hundred thousand years ago. The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture has over the last five millennia led to a rapid increase of world population and a human dominance over the Earth’s land surface and biota.