LAUSR

The increasing knowledge of global environmental issues and scarcity of resources explains growing interest in a variety of applications of bio-based materials. ‘Waste and Energy’ are the two most important and linked words. Economic development depends on the efficient supply of energy with related growth in global energy demand. With growing depletion of fossil fuel sources and environmental deterioration development andutilizationof renewable energy sources has become a thrust area of research.Hydrogen being clean fuel can be used as an attractive energy source for future. Agricultural biomass can be derived from biological sources such as straw, corn, animal waste, perennial grasses, plants, etc. This biomass can be transformed into energy and value-added products eg. medicines, bioplastics and biochemicals. This makes sure that the use of agricultural biomass as waste and helps in the reduction of pollutants, and hence leads to sustainable development. Apart from this using agricultural byproducts and residues using biological engineering interventions can give new energy or strength to the rural economies and secure energy independence. The fourth subject specialized conference of International Bioprocessing Association on ‘Accelerating Agricultural Biomass Utilization for Sustainable Development’ (IBA-ABUD 2019) was held on 2–4 November 2019 in Zhengzhou, China. The conference was jointly organized by the International Bioprocessing Association (IBA), Henan Agricultural University, Huanghe S&T University and Henan Province Society of Agricultural Engineering, and hosted by the Key Laboratory of New Materials and Facilities for Rural Renewable Energy, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, Henan International Joint Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Nanomaterials of China, Institute of Modern Agricultural Engineering and Henan Key Laboratory of Rural Renewable Energy of China. The aim of the conference was to strengthen international academic exchanges, present relevant scientific research in the field of agricultural biomass utilization for sustainable development, promote technological progress and unite young scientific and technological workers to discuss the bottleneck problems encountered in the development of bioprocessing technology. The conference received papers from Canadian, Australian, Chinese and Indian scientists, engineers and researchers involved in innovative bioprocessing, bioreactor designs and engineering. It reflected the innovative research achievements and presents the research hotspots in the field of biomass utilization for sustainable development in recent years. At the three-day international event, there consisted of keynote and invited speeches, oral presentations and poster showcase. The conferencewas having three sessions (a) Session 1: Physico-chemical and Thermo-chemical processes for biomass; (b) Session 2: Biological waste treatment and (c) Session 3: Biohydrogen. Papers were submitted to the conference covering the topics about innovative bioprocessing, biofuels and chemicals, digestate and waste treatment, etc. This special issue is dedicated to bioengineering tools to develop new opportunities, products and challenges in the utilization of agricultural biomass for sustainable development. It incorporates papers on exploring biotechnological and thermo-chemical interventions for use of agricultural wastes for the production of fuels and chemicals and other associated products. These also include their economic and environmental impacts on sustainable developments. Some