Meet the editor

Krzysztof Biernat, Ph.D. (MechEng), is a professor at the Łukasiewicz Research Network - Automotive Industry Institute, Poland. He is also the chairman of the Polish Biomethane Council, a member of the Management Board of the "Bioeconomy Cluster" Association, and a member of the Steering Committee of the European Technology Platform Renewable Heating and Cooling. He specializes in chemical thermodynamics, including

environmental processes and production technology, and quality assessment and use of operating fluids such as biofuels and alternative energy carriers. He has many national and international awards, decorations, and orders for scientific and pro-innovative activities. He is a leading expert in the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and an expert in national and European operational programs. He is the author of more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and a dozen or so monographs on the properties and operating conditions of fuels, biofuels, and other operating fluids, as well as environmental protection. He has promoted more than 200 master's and engineering theses. He is also the chairman of the Scientific Council of the journal *Material Engineering* and the thematic editor of *Applied Sciences*, *Chemical Industry*, and *Automotive Archives*. He is a member of the Academy of Engineering in Poland and a member of many national and foreign scientific societies, including the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Society of Chemical Industry (SOCI), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Contents

Circular Economy

*by Deepak Sharma*

*Roger Ruan and Penghua Qiu*

Production

**Preface XI**

**Chapter 1 1**

**Chapter 2 9**

**Chapter 3 31**

**Chapter 4 51**

**Chapter 5 79**

**Chapter 6 99**

Introductory Chapter: Environmental Conditions of the Functioning of Biorefineries and Biorefinery Systems and Their Impact on the

Simulated Moving Bed Technology: Overview and Use in Biorefineries

*by Klara Birikh, Alex Michine, Matti Heikkilä and Petri Ihalainen*

*by Xiye Chen, Linyao Zhang, Li Liu, Chang Xing, Yan Zhao, Kirk Cobb,* 

Technological Advances in Synthetic Biology for Cellulosic Ethanol

*by Antonio Luiz Fantinel, Rogério Margis, Edson Talamini and Homero Dewes*

*by Krzysztof Biernat and Paulina Luiza Grzelak*

Enzymes – Key Elements of the Future Biorefineries

Progress on the Co-Pyrolysis of Coal and Biomass

Algae Based Bio-Plastics: Future of Green Economy

*by Arathi Sreenikethanam and Amit Bajhaiya*

## Contents


Preface

Biorefinery systems are one of the basic ways to mitigate the negative effects of the functioning of local ecosystems by converting biomass and organic waste into various substances such as chemicals or biomaterials and energy carriers. The research carried out so far has shown the effectiveness of waste biomass processing by obtaining the so-called added value in products and minimizing the amount of naturally generated or produced waste substances. Biorefinery systems are industrial open systems where biomass, other waste substances, and energy streams flow into these systems as inputs. Inside the system, there are several processes that result in, among others, energy exchange of the system with the environment in the forms of heat and work. The output streams of biorefinery systems include several products, such as fuels, chemicals, high-value chemicals obtained in small amounts, low-value chemicals obtained in large amounts, feed and food products, polymers, and other materials, as well as processed energy in cogeneration or trigeneration (heat, electricity, and cooling) and process wastes. An additional advantage of the functioning of biorefinery systems is the possibility of further use of the generated waste substances in subsequent technological processes. Hence, biorefinery systems should be a tool for the implementation of sustainable development in the processes of energy use of natural and waste resources. According to the concept of sustainable development, this type of energy-generating installation is the most optimal solution, which at the same time considers continuous technological development and the production of so-called clean energy and other products while reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and harmful compounds. It is a low-waste technology that uses the existing potential of waste biomass, which is currently not used at

The basic biorefinery processes used after the pretreatment of biomass material include enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation, including enzymatic hydrolysis, rapid pyrolysis, and hydrothermal processing (HydroThermal Upgrading [HTU]), called liquefaction or hydrothermal pyrolysis, with a possible further hydrodeoxidation (HDO) process. Currently, there are two basic technological concepts for the implementation of biorefinery processes. The first includes systems in which valueadded products such as biochemicals, including biopolymers, are recovered, and the post-process residues are processed into energy carriers for internal use. The second involves the processing of waste raw material into various types of energy carriers, and in the second stage, further processing of the residues into products

Considering the progress in research aimed at developing technologies that can be used in biorefinery processes, the intention behind publishing this book is to examine the current state of research and the prospects for implementing the results of these studies in the construction of biorefinery systems fully complying

Chapter 1 discusses selected environmental conditions for the functioning of biorefineries and biorefinery systems and their impact on the circular economy.

all or is used in an unreasonable way.

with the principles of sustainable development.

with added value.
