New Insights Into the Valorization of Agricultural and Agroindustrial Byproducts Through Biorefinery Cascade Processing

About this Research Topic

Background

Today, there is a growing interest in the exploitation of the agricultural and agroindustrial byproducts/waste generated in different sectors (food, phytopharmaceutical, ornamental plants, and other sectors). This is key for changing from a linear economy to a circular bioeconomy, which is a hopeful alternative model. In this model, besides energy and biofuels, these byproducts can serve as a basis for obtaining high-value added chemicals, not only monomeric forms (e.g. organic acids, furans, polyols, etc.), but also oligomeric (e.g. oligosaccharides, etc.) and polymeric forms (e.g. polyhydroxyalkanoates, etc.). One other potential way could be through the recovery of bioactive compounds (e.g. phenolic compounds, peptides, alkaloids, carotenoids, essential fatty acids, terpenes, etc.).

In response to this emerging scientific field, we are organizing a Research Topic to serve as a platform for novel research that aims to propose biorefinery cascade processing to enable valorization of agricultural and agroindustrial sources through obtaining not only bioenergy and/or biofuels but also these valuable compounds, oligomers and polymers. Therefore, this Research Topic could serve as a multidisciplinary brainstorming of theoretical and experimental designs with industrial interest in this new paradigm, a circular bioeconomy. This could open the way towards new fractionation and valorization methods critical to the economic success of cellulose-based biorefining processes or to be closer to circular designs.

Subjects covered in this Research Topic include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Obtaining valuable chemicals and compounds, bioplastics and biofilms from bioenergy and/or biofuel natural sources.
• Inclusion of green technologies to obtain bio-based chemicals in biorefinery cascade processing.
• New biorefinery cascade processing approaches to produce bioenergy and/or biofuels along with bio-based chemicals.
• Life cycle assessment and techno-economic evaluation of biorefinery cascade processing addressed to obtain bioenergy and/or biofuels along with bio-based chemicals.
• Energy economic and societal aspects of this type of biorefinery model.

Keywords: biofuel, bioenergy, bio-based chemical, biorefinery, byproduct, valorization

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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