Sustainable development is an area that has world-wide appeal, from developed industrialized countries to the developing world. Development of innovative technologies to achieve sustainability is being addressed by many European countries, the USA and also China and India. The need for chemical processes to be safe, compact, flexible, energy efficient, and environmentally benign and conducive to the rapid commercialization of new products poses new challenges for chemical engineers. This book aims to examine the newest technologies for sustainable development in chemical engineering, through careful analysis of the technical aspects, and discussion of the possible fields of industrial development.

The book is broad in its coverage, and is divided into four sections:

• Energy Production, covering renewable energies, innovative solar technologies, cogeneration plants, and smart grids
• Process Intensification, describing why it is important in the chemical and petrochemical industry, the engineering approach, and nanoparticles as a smart technology for bioremediation
• Bio-based Platform Chemicals, including the production of bioethanol and biodiesel, bioplastics production and biodegradability, and biosurfactants
• Soil and Water Remediation, covering water management and re-use, and soil remediation technologies

Throughout the book there are case studies and examples of industrial processes in practice. 

Content:
Chapter 1 Sustainable Development Strategies: An Overview (pages 1–24): Vincenzo Piemonte, Marcello De Falco and Angelo Basile
Chapter 2 Innovative Solar Technology: CSP Plants for Combined Production of Hydrogen and Electricity (pages 25–49): Marcello De Falco
Chapter 3 Strategies for Increasing Electrical Energy Production from Intermittent Renewables (pages 51–79): Alessandro Franco
Chapter 4 The Smart Grid as a Response to Spread the Concept of Distributed Generation (pages 81–94): Yi Ding, Jacob Ostergaard, Salvador Pineda Morente and Qiuwei Wu
Chapter 5 Process Intensification in the Chemical Industry: A Review (pages 95–118): Stefano Curcio
Chapter 6 Process Intensification in the Chemical and Petrochemical Industry (pages 119–151): Angelo Basile and Adolfo Iulianelli
Chapter 7 Production of Bio?Based Fuels: Bioethanol and Biodiesel (pages 153–180): Sudip Chakraborty, Ranjana Das Mondal, Debolina Mukherjee and Chiranjib Bhattacharjee
Chapter 8 Inside the Bioplastics World: An Alternative to Petroleum?based Plastics (pages 181–198): Vincenzo Piemonte
Chapter 9 Biosurfactants (pages 199–240): Maria Giovanna Martinotti, Gianna Allegrone, Massimo Cavallo and Letizia Fracchia
Chapter 10 Bioremediation of Water: A Sustainable Approach (pages 241–266): Sudip Chakraborty, Jaya Sikder, Debolina Mukherjee, Mrinal Kanti Mandal and D.Lawrence Arockiasamy
Chapter 11 Effective Remediation of Contaminated Soils by Eco?Compatible Physical, Biological, and Chemical Practices (pages 267–296): Filomena Sannino and Alessandro Piccolo
Chapter 12 Nanoparticles as a Smart Technology for Remediation (pages 297–348): Giuseppe Chidichimo, Daniela Cupelli, Giovanni De Filpo, Patrizia Formoso and Fiore Pasquale Nicoletta