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**31**

**Chapter 3**

*Pedro Romano*

**Abstract**

WtL and WtE

Review of Biofuel Technologies in

Processing of biomass feedstocks to produce energy, fuels, and chemicals via a combination of different applied technologies is considered a promising pathway to achieve sustainable waste management, with many environmental and economic benefits. In this chapter, we review the current state of the main processes associated with energy recovery and biofuel production under the concept of waste biorefineries. The reviewed technologies are classified into thermochemical, biological, and chemical, including combustion, gasification, steam explosion, pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, and torrefaction; anaerobic digestion, fermentation, enzymatic treatment, and microbial electrolysis; and hydrolysis, solvent extraction,

transesterification, and supercritical conversion. Their brief history, current status, and future developments are discussed within a perspective of valorization

**Keywords:** biorefineries, biofuel production, energy recovery, waste-to-fuels,

Waste can be defined as any substance or object that has no further use and is intended to be discarded [1]. In this sense, waste production is inevitable in a society based on consumption, making waste management a huge challenge taking into account the enormous quantities of residues that are produced globally. In fact, about 2.6 billion Mg of waste were produced in the European Union (EU) during 2014, from which 41% was discarded in landfills, 36% was recycled, 10% used in earthmoving operations, 7% treated in wastewater treatment plants, and 6% incinerated either for energy production or for destruction. Based on this, in recent decades, humanity is shifting their focus of traditional waste management from the concept of "collection and disposal" in favor of pyramid-based management of the waste hierarchy in order to increase sustainability [2]. However, even when environmentally-friendly practices such as recycling and reuse are accomplished, much of the operations are performed "downcycling," meaning that the recycled product has an economic value below its original purpose. As such, the linear economy model based on the pyramidal hierarchy of wastes that we tend to use nowadays also has limitations. Actually, there are still opportunities for efficiency gains in many industrial processes, but these gains will

and managing of current waste streams with no solution.

probably be increasingly marginal and undifferentiated.

waste-to-energy, circular economy

**1. Introduction**

*Bruno B. Garcia, Gonçalo Lourinho, Paulo Brito and* 
