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Biorefinery Concept

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Biorefineries

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Energy ((LNEN,volume 57))

Abstract

Biomass valorization is an important issue which could be significant in the reduction of the global dependence on fossil fuels . This chapter will focus on the overview of pathways for conventional and alternative biomass valorization, including transformation to valuable materials and energy . The efficient and flexible use of biomass and the innovative technologies will be discussed as a biorefinery concept . The “raw” biomass, its transformation, and the further conversion into energy and coproducts are considered, aiming to achieve sustainable proposals and maximum valorization. The development and application of the best possible technologies for all processes (e.g., combustion , pyrolysis , gasification , fermentation ), including also pretreatment are essential in a biorefinery. The biorefineries can be classified considering the feedstock or the technology : lignocellulosic and marine biorefineries, biochemical and thermochemical biorefineries and advanced biorefinery. The sustainability and the economic factor of the biorefinery are extremely important, and should be evaluated to understand the energy and environmental issues, and the associated costs of any conversion system . Therefore, several sustainability assessment tools have been developed. It is expected that this chapter will contribute to improve understanding the biorefinery concept, the intense and sustainable use of biomass.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), through IDMEC, under LAETA-UID/EMS/50022/2013. The author is pleased to acknowledge the FCT for the Post-Doctoral financial support through grant no. SFRH/BPD/95098/2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IDMEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001, Lisboa, Portugal

    Ana F. Ferreira

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  1. Ana F. Ferreira
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Correspondence to Ana F. Ferreira .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    Miriam Rabaçal

  2. Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    Ana F. Ferreira

  3. Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    Carla A. M. Silva

  4. Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    Mário Costa

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Ferreira, A.F. (2017). Biorefinery Concept. In: Rabaçal, M., Ferreira, A., Silva, C., Costa, M. (eds) Biorefineries. Lecture Notes in Energy, vol 57. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48288-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48288-0_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48286-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48288-0

  • eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)

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