Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2
Biomass as a Feedstock
Thomas M. Attard
1
, Andrew J. Hunt
1
, Avtar S. Matharu
1
,
Joseph A. Houghton
1
and Igor Polikarpov
2
1
Department of Chemistry, Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, University of York, UK
2
Grupo de Biotecnologia Molecular, Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São
Paulo, Brazil
2.1 Introduction
Since the 1990s, decreasing fossil reserves, rising oil prices, concerns over
security of supply and environmental impacts have led to a global policy shift
back towards the use of biomass as a local, renewable and low-carbon feedstock.
The biorefinery concept is analogous to today's petroleum refineries, which
convert biomass into multiple value-added products including energy, chemical
and materials in an integrated facility [1]. However, many first-generation
biorefineries utilise feedstocks that compete with food or feed [2]. The use of
lignocellulosic agricultural residues (that do not compete with food) and food
supply chain (FSC) wastes ('from farm to fork') can aid in the creation of
flexible zero-waste networks, applicable to a variety of low-value local
feedstocks. The utilisation of such wastes can lead to the development of novel
interconnecting webs of products that can meet the demands of existing and
new industries.
