Biomass Waste as Sustainable Raw Material for Energy and Fuels

Abstract

Sustainable development is the common goal of the current concepts of bioeconomy and circular economy. In this sense, the biorefineries platforms are a strategic factor to increase the bioeconomy in the economic balance. The incorporation of renewable sources to produce fuels, chemicals, and energy, includes sustainability, reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG), and creating more manufacturing jobs fostering the advancement of regional and social systems by implementing the comprehensive use of available biomass, due to its low costs and high availability. This paper describes the emerging biorefinery strategies to produce fuels (bio-ethanol and γ-valerolactone) and energy (pellets and steam), compared with the currently established biorefineries designed for fuels, pellets, and steam. The focus is on the state of the art of biofuels and energy production and environmental factors, as well as a discussion about the main conversion technologies, production strategies, and barriers. Through the implementation of biorefineries platforms and the evaluation of low environmental impact technologies and processes, new sustainable production strategies for biofuels and energy can be established, making these biobased industries into more competitive alternatives, and improving the economy of the current value chains.

Increasing Access to Electricity: An Assessment of the Energy and Power Generation Potential from Biomass Waste Residues in Tanzania

“…Using waste biomass as a direct source of "solid biofuels" for energy generation is difficult due to the variable nature of these residues in terms of size, form, moisture content, and low density, etc [22]. Pre-treatment methods such as pelleting, briquetting, and torrefaction are becoming commonly used to overcome these issues thereby increasing the concentration, density, and heating values [22]. However, this paper will focus on methods of using such waste streams in the absence of such enhancement techniques.…”

Residual Birch Wood Lignocellulose after 2-Furaldehyde Production as a Potential Feedstock for Obtaining Fiber

“…All these materials originally result from the biological photosynthesis from readily available atmospheric CO 2 , water, and sunlight [ 7 ]. Therefore, LC biomass is a sustainable and green feedstock for the generation of liquid fuels with net zero carbon emission that can eventually replace feedstock derived from petrochemical resources [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. The transformation of biomass to useful chemicals is a major challenge for green chemistry [ 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”

Saccharification and Fermentation of Cellulolytic Agricultural Biomass to Bioethanol using Locally Isolated Aspergillus niger S48 and Kluyveromyces sp. Y2, respectively

“…The addition of lignocellulosic renewable biomass will generate fuel, chemicals, energy in addition to reduction of green-house gases. This will also diversify job creation through biorefinery activities, with the use of abundant renewable biomass materials [5]. Bioethanol production from plant biomass has been of interest worldwide due to its usefulness without causing harm to the environment unlike fossil fuels that have been implicated in environmental pollution including global warming.…”