Biobased conversion technologies

The concept biorefinery is discussed in the US National Research Council Report Biobased Industrial Products [4] and by Lynd et al. [7] in much detail. The basic idea is the processing of multiple renewable resources and the production of multiple products in a production complex. Another characteristic of biorefinery is the integration of thermal, chemical, biological and/or cataly-tical processes for an efficient and optimal processing and utilization of the raw materials. Technological, ecological and economic analysis and system design should be implemented to ensure an overall optimization of raw material conversion and product formation in a similar way as for oil refineries. 

Recent advances in molecular genetics and metabolic engineering have laid the foundations for the transition from an oil-based to a biobased economy. The one remaining bottleneck, where technological breakthroughs are still needed, is the efficient conversion of lignocellulose to lignin and (hemi)cellulose [3]. 

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