Over the past decade, serious environmental concerns induced by fossil fuel
production/combustion and increasing daily demand on energy supply have stimulated intensive research to develop reliable and sustainable energy supply and production technologies. Among the identified alternatives, raw biomass materials, such as food residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms and households, have been widely recognized as one of the most promising resources due to their environmental-friendly and renewable nature. It is estimated that the annual global primary production of biomass can be equivalent to the 4,500 EJ of solar energy captured per year.