Volume 42, February 2015, Pages 446–459
Abstract
Nowadays,
the energy requirement of increasing population is creating energy
crisis, and it’s become a serious and alarming thread for sustainability
of natural resources. Moreover, upcoming demand of energy requirement
is growing faster in developing countries as compared to developed ones.
Malaysia is one of the fastest growing, developing countries, which is
experiencing drastic and regular growth in population and economy in the
recent years. It is an urgent requirement for the government and policy
makers to explore alternative energy sources to accomplish upcoming
demands of a growing population in the form of energy sufficiency.
Malaysia is blessed with tropical and sub-tropical climates, which are
suitable for exploring the green agriculture and forest potential. Most
of the available energy resources in the form of fossil fuels have
already been explored, and it is expected that energy demand will grow
continuously by two to three fold in the next decades. Biomass resource
is abundant in Malaysia. This can be considered as an alternative source
of renewable and sustainable energy, with a promising future to fulfil
continuous and uninterrupted supply of energy. Agricultural biomass such
as Industrial Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) has been
successfully investigated as a great potential to be used as a renewable
and sustainable feedstock for the production of bio-energy. Kenaf
regarded as a traditional crop of Malaysia. Kenaf biomass would appear
as a potential material for great sustainable energy (bioethanol,
biohydrogen, bioenergy) supplier in the coming future. In this review,
we have provided an insight of kenaf biomass, its morphology, structure,
chemical compositions, storage and sowing, cultivation, harvesting,
yield and different sustainable energy possible to get from it. We also
discuss the feasibility of kenaf biomass as a sustainable energy source
supplier in Malaysian prospective.
Keywords
- Kenaf;
- Biomass;
- Bioenergy;
- Malaysian prospective
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.