The Strategic Role of Bamboo as a Sustainable Bioenergy Feedstock: Technical, Economic, and Policy Review

The continual rise in global population, depletion of fossil fuel reserves, and escalating environmental challenges have intensified the pursuit of sustainable, renewable, and affordable energy alternatives. Among these, bioenergy has emerged as a practical and promising substitute for fossil-derived fuels and now forms a vital component of the global energy mix. This review examines the potential of bamboo as a renewable lignocellulosic feedstock for producing various forms of bioenergy. It presents an overview of the global bamboo market, cultivation practices, harvesting methods, pretreatment technologies, and the physicochemical properties that make bamboo an attractive biomass resource. The processes for converting bamboo into pellets, briquettes, biochar, bioethanol, bio-oil, biobutanol, syngas, biogas, and biomethane are analyzed in detail. Utilizing bamboo for bioenergy production is cost-effective and sustainable, achieving high conversion efficiency and superior bioenergy yield and quality. However, issues such as deforestation, land and water use conflicts, scalability, limited biomass markets, and inconsistent policies remain major barriers. These challenges can be mitigated through targeted research funding, the development of innovative pretreatment and conversion technologies, genetic improvement of bamboo species, and comprehensive life cycle and sustainability assessments. Strengthened collaboration among academia, industry, and government, supported by robust ethical, legal, and regulatory frameworks, will accelerate the integration of bamboo into the global bioenergy economy.