Biorefinery strategies sustainability

Clements LD,Van Dyne DL.The lignocellulosic biorefinery - a strategy for returning to a sustainable source of fuek and industrial organic chemicals. In Kamm B, Gruber PR., Kamm M, editors. Biorefineries -industrial processes and products,vol. l.Weinheim (Germany) Wiley-VCH 2006. p. 115—28. 

The first step includes the definition of the problem scope (i.e., design a biorefinery network, wastewater treatment plant network, a processing network for vegetable oil production), the selection of suitable objective functions (i.e., maximum profit of the biorefinery, minimum total annualized cost (TAG) of the wastewater treatment plant), and optimization scenarios with respect to either business strategy, engineering performance, sustainability, or a combination of such objectives. 

The platform chemicals described earlier mainly rely on feedstock, for instance, 70% of the total cost of the fermentation product is based on feedstock. Hence substrate costs are the most influential parameters in platform chemical production from renewable resources. The cost of the substrate is not only based on pretreatment and fractionation but also on the severe environmental damage caused by deforestation for feedstock requirements (Octave and Thomas, 2009). As mentioned earlier, to get a few hxmdred kilograms of chemicals, a huge ton of forest biomass is consumed. Hence the biorefinery sector should divert its focus from wood to forest wastes, paper mill wastes, agricultural residues, and other municipal wastes. This will decrease the pressure on forest biomass and make the entire process sustainable. In order to reduce deforestation, a few strategies are to be followed in biorefineries ... 

Future research incentives on the development of biorefineries should focus on all aspects of the process regarding upstream processing (ie, evaluation of various raiewable raw materials and conversion strategies), bioconversion for SCO production, downstream conversion of SCO into biodiesel or other fuels, and generation of co-products through valorization of cmde glycerol or other side/waste streams. Furthermore, it is essential to evaluate the economic viability and sustainability of industrial-scale, SCO-based biodiesel production. 

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