The demand for plant-based industrial raw materials as alternatives to synthetically produced materials has increased, as has research into expanding the utility of plants for current and future uses. Non-food crops can be used in a variety of different industries and products including bioenergy, industrial oil and starch, fibre and dye, rubber and related compounds, insecticide and land rehabilitation.
In a comprehensive coverage of each of these uses, chapters discuss the identification of plant species with desired traits, their cultivation to obtain the needed raw materials, methods utilized in producing different finished products, current and future research in crop production and processing, and the present status and future prospects of the industry.
Section I. General Introduction; 1.Overview of Industrial Crops; Section II. Bioenergy; 2: Bioenergy industry status and prospects; 3: Ethanol from sugarcane; 4: Ethanol from starch crops; 5: Cellulosic biofuel; 6: Biodisel from plant oils; 7: Power generation by gasification and combustion; Section III. Industrial oil; 8: Industrial oil types and uses; 9: Current and prospective industrial oilseed crops; 10: Research in industrial oilseed crops; Section IV. Industrial starch; 11: Types of starch, uses and scope; 12: Important starch crops; 13: Research in industrial starch crops; Section V. Fibre and dye; 14; Cotton production, fibre quality, and uses; 15: Heavy duty textile crops and uses; 16: Research in fibre improvement; 17: Important dye plants, dying process and applications; Section VI. Rubber and related compounds; 18: Natural rubber industry and rubber tree; 19: Guayule and other promising rubber crops.; 20: Wax, gum and resin; Section VII. Insecticide; 21: Botanical insecticides, repellents, soaps, and oils; 22: Insecticidal plants; Section VIII. Land rehabilitation; 23: Principles of plant based remediation of contaminated soils; 24: Phytoremedial crops and current research.