Abstract
The past decades have seen an increasing interest in developing pathways to produce bio-based chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass and organic waste as renewable resources. Using biomass as a source of chemical building blocks is critical to a future sustainable chemical industry. The successful development of bio-chemicals will also have a profound impact in terms of the innovations of new polymers and materials, new solvents, and new bio-active compounds. This article provides a broad review of conventional thermal heating, microwave processing, and biochemical processing for the production of value-added bio-based chemicals. The potentially important but currently little exploited microwave-assisted processes are given particular attention and the microwave-specific, non-thermal effects are explored. The comparative merits of different approaches are evaluated from the techno-economic and environmental perspectives. The opportunities of integrated biorefineries are articulated, with the aim to actualize carbon-efficient valorization of lignocellulosic biomass and organic waste for synthesizing an array of products. (Figure presented.).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 55 |
| Journal | Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology |
| Early online date | 2 May 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 2 May 2020 |
Bibliographical note
© 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.Keywords
- Bio-based chemicals
- lignocellulosic biomass
- sustainable biorefinery