Biorefinery food materials used

A wide range of food materials are used as feedstocks in biorefinery. Even biorefineries can be classified, based on the food materials used, into three major groups (1) cereal biorefinery, (2) green biorefinery, and (3) oilseed biorefinery. The cereal biorefinery uses stable dry cereals... 

Impact on food security is one of the core social factors to be considered in the development of the use of renewable resources for biofuels and material use like the use in biorefineries. The growing market (today mainly biofuel, in future biorefineries as well) represents a new source of demand for agricultural commodities, which must be supplied from available land resources without negative impacts on the food and feed sector [6]. 

After a brief introduction to the complex biorefinery classification system, food crop-based biorefineries with a ciurent global demand and supply of their products are presented in this chapter. The possibility of increased food prices due to the extensive use of food materials in biorefineries has also been envisaged. 

The major drawback of using food materials in biorefinery is the competition between the use of arable land for the production of food for biorefinery versus the production of food for human feed, which ultimately increases the commodity price of food materials for human... 

Among them, the value of residues and waste seems to be the most relevant outcome of the industry. This aspect reinforces the concept of biorefinery based on the best use of low-cost materials. The creation of job opportunities is the second-most important effect, which is a very relevant social objective. In fact, employment is among the most important aspects affecting the demographic trend, one of the most critical aspects in rural areas. The biomass supply from dedicated crops deserves to be monitored, to avoid imbalance between the food and the nonfood sector. This may cause the loss of tradition in local foods, implying the loss of a cultural asset. The last relevant issue is represented by the agri-... 

The term biorefinery is nowadays widely used and several definitions have been developed over the last few years. Nevertheless, the core component of all definitions is the conversion of biomass into several products (food, feed, materials, chemicals and energy), and the integration of various technologies and processes in the most sustainable way. 

Abstract Biorefineries consider lactic acid as one of the most promising platform chemicals which are being extensively used in a wide range of food and nonfood applications. Since lactic acid is produced via biotechnological processes, the microbial strains are in the focus of interest, besides all the other aspects of raw materials, fermentation mode, etc. 

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