Valorization of cereal based biorefinery byproducts: reality and expectations

Environ Sci Technol. 2013 Aug 20;47(16):9014-27. doi: 10.1021/es402395g. Epub 2013 Aug 9.

Abstract

The growth of the biobased economy will lead to an increase in new biorefinery activities. All biorefineries face the regular challenges of efficiently and economically treating their effluent to be compatible with local discharge requirements and to minimize net water consumption. The amount of wastes resulting from biorefineries industry is exponentially growing. The valorization of such wastes has drawn considerable attention with respect to resources with an observable economic and environmental concern. This has been a promising field which shows great prospective toward byproduct usage and increasing value obtained from the biorefinery. However, full-scale realization of biorefinery wastes valorization is not straightforward because several microbiological, technological and economic challenges need to be resolved. In this review we considered valorization options for cereals based biorefineries wastes while identifying their challenges and exploring the opportunities for future process.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Biofuels*
  • Edible Grain*
  • Industrial Waste / economics*
  • Lignin / chemistry

Substances

  • Biofuels
  • Industrial Waste
  • Lignin