LAUSR

The issues on Energy and Environmental Sustainability are the largest challenges to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. With the highly rapid development of the modern society, the increasing environmental pollution and the growing consumption of energy have already become two major issues, which need addressing now and in the future. Both ensuring the best use of resources to reduce environmental pollution and developing new sustainable strategies to convert biomass into green energy carries are urgently required by the public. Solutions to these long-term problems will require the cooperation of multidisciplinary researchers. However, microbial technologies for bioremediation of environmental pollutants [1–4], biological control [5–10], and bioconversion of biomass into clean energy carries or fuels [11–14] and green chemicals [15–17] are promising approaches to the sustainable development of energy and environment. The present special issue of the Biotechnology Reports collects thirteen articles (1 Short communication, 2 Review articles, and 10 Research articles) to address the relevant topics from industrial biotechnology, biofuels production, energy storage, new processes in biotechnology, biodegradation of environmental pollutants to synthetic biology for biosynthesis of chemicals with sustainability potentials. To begin with, Rasimphi and Tinarwo highlight the importance of biogas as a clean and renewable form of energy to the fuel crisis and the environmental pollution associated with the fossil fuel and discuss the correlating factors influencing decision-makers in the sustainable adoption and utilization of biogas technology in South Africa. Şenol reports the large potential of hazelnut shells and hazelnut wastes in the production of biogas and the mitigation of CO2 emissions. Moreover, Hakizimana et al. provide the up-to-date information on the current strategies and parameters for the enhanced microbial production of butanediol. López-Domínguez et al. optimize the enzymatic hydrolysis of Opuntia ficus-indica cladode as biomass for bioethanol production with competitive yield. The paper by Lawer-Yolar et al. reports that the oils from the tropical forest tree can be used as a potential phase change material for thermal energy storage. Akhtar and Mannan comprehensively review mycoremediation of environmental pollutants from the industry (e.g., heavy metals and aromatic hydrocarbons) and the agriculture (e.g., pesticides, herbicides, and cyanotoxins) and provide the strategies to address the global problem of pollution. The study by Pourbabaee et al. reports the hydrophobe and halotolerant bacterial culture, unveils the main rationale behind phenanthrene degradation, and