Design strategies for sustainable biorefineries

A comprehensive review on the implementation of the biorefinery concept in biodiesel production plants

“…For instance, for the production of essential oils, only 1-2% of the raw material would lead to the final product while the remaining 98% would end up as process waste (Moncada and Aristizábal, 2016). As a result, the idea of biomass exploitation would in principle contradict what generally sought by process designers, i.e., generating low levels of pollution during biomass transformation and high economic benefits.…”

“…In line with that, numerous efforts with a biorefinery focus have been to date made (Cherubini et From the above definitions, it can be understood that a biorefinery is in general a system in which the constituents of biomass must be harnessed as much as possible to produce a range of products, an analogous concept to oil refineries Moncada and Aristizábal., 2016). Nevertheless, although the concept of biorefinery is an adaptation of the concept of refinery, these have large differences (Moncada and Aristizábal, 2016).…”

“…Nevertheless, the international market is still dependent on mineral oil, both for the production of transportation fuels and different chemical products (Moncada and Aristizábal, 2016;Xie et al, 2016). On the other hand, this dependency is believed to further increase owing to population growth, expansion of transportation, and the growing industrialization (Meher et al, 2006).…”

“…As a result, the idea of biomass exploitation would in principle contradict what generally sought by process designers, i.e., generating low levels of pollution during biomass transformation and high economic benefits. Subsequently, the integral use of biomass was brought into attention as a fundamental part of any biotechnological processes involving biomass in order to reduce environmental impacts, increase economic benefits, and to generate positive social impacts on rural communities (Moncada and Aristizábal, 2016).…”

Modern microbial solid state fermentation technology for future biorefineries for the production of added-value products

“…Note-worthy to say, with the increasing interest in SSF nowadays, researchers are keen to discover as many new ways to explore the usage of this technology as possible to develop new addedvalue materials from by-products. The technology know-how, protocol, and manufacturing process will be obtained and optimized taking into account raw materials, technologies, processing routes, products, technical, economical, and environmental aspects (Moncada et al, 2016). The use of renewable resources will make an essential contribution towards sustainable development while, at the same time; the generation of pollutants or harmful waste during product manufacture can be minimized.…”