Aresta Michele et al. (eds.) Biorefinery: From Biomass to Chemicals and Fuels

De Gruyter, 2012. — 465 P.A biorefinery is a multidisciplinary and complex concept addressing, at the same time, the production of value-added bioproducts (chemical building blocks, materials), and bioenergy (biofuels, power, and heat) from biomass, within a sustainability assessment carried out along the entire value chain and life cycle. Development of sustainable biorefineries calls for research, development, and integration of innovative technologies to prove the technical and economical viability related to the entire value chain (biomass production, biomass conversion, safe recycling and/or disposal of waste, and conformity of end-products to end-user requirements) of advanced biorefineries. This concept attempts to integrate the different scientifi c and industrial communities with the expectation to achieve a breakthrough beyond the “business as usual” scenario.A new concept of biorefi nery comes into operation: the EuroBioRef concept
Refinery of the future: feedstock, processes, products
The terrestrial biomass: formation and properties (crops and residual biomass)
Production of aquatic biomass and extraction of bio-oil
Biomass pretreatment: separation of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin – existing technologies and perspectives
Conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose into platform molecules: chemical routes
Conversion of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin into platform molecules: biotechnological approach
Conversion of lignin: chemical technologies and biotechnologies – oxidative strategies in lignin upgrade
Process development and metabolic engineering for bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass
Catalytic conversion of biosourced raw materials: homogeneous catalysis
Catalytic conversion of oils extracted from seeds: from polyunsaturated long chains to functional molecules
Heterogeneous catalysis applied to the conversion of biogenic substances, platform molecules, and oils
Biomass gasifi cation: gas production and cleaning for diverse applications – CHP and chemical syntheses
From Syngas to fuels and chemicals: chemical and biotechnological routes
Conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals via thermochemical processes.
Cellulosic ethanol production in northern Sweden – a case study of economic performance and GHG emissions
Anaerobic fermentation: biogas from waste – the basic science
From lab-scale to full-scale biogas plants