Fuelled by rapid economic growth, bioprocessing of a variety of feedstocks has increased drastically, making bioprocess technology the larger revenue generator in the world within a short span of few decades. There is continuously ever-increasing gap between traditional and bioprocess technology, which is a positive sign for the welfare of a sustainable society. Taking into account the trend of bio economic growth, every nation’s strong dependence on traditional process technology cannot be mitigated in the future without developing self-dependent bio-based alternatives, which not only secure the sustainability of its own economy, but also impact the rest of the world for a healthy society. On an average, every country has leading grain production in the world, producing more than 300 MT of grain per year on an average, and correspondingly generating 600–700 MT agricultural residues. Due to the lack of economically viable technologies for their utilization, most agricultural residues are burnt in the field by farmers, which pollutes environments and even presents public hazards such as the disruption of air transportation by smoke clouds in the sky. The abundant of cellulosic waste can be used for bio-based products. Therefore, producing biofuels, bioenergy, and bio-based chemicals through the refinery of lignocellulose biomass has been acknowledged worldwide as an alternative to the oil refinery, since the oil crisis occurred in the 1970s. It has also recently been highlighted again because of global climate change caused by the over-consumption of petroleum-based products, particularly vehicle emissions. Without doubt, the successful development of biomass refineries will help it to sustain its own economy, and in the meantime contribute to the whole world. Driven by these imperatives, governmental funding for R&D of biomass refineries has increased significantly in many nations. This momentum is expected to be maintained for a long term to make such a pathway economically competitive.
author/Pogaku Ravindra
0 Reviews