Themed collection Biorefining

George W. Huber, Muxina Konarova, Jason Y. C. Lim and Karen Wilson introduce the Sustainable Energy & Fuels themed collection on biorefining.

Biorefineries will be strategic players in achieving the circular economy and sustainability goals.

Bringing to light the next generation in sustainable energy, we focus on phototrophic microbial fuel cells. These are broad-spectrum tools that can contribute to current and future needs in energy production, waste remediation, and CO₂ reduction.

To implement circular production and consumption practices, tackling key societal concerns such as resource depletion, climate change, and environmental pollution is necessary.

This review focuses on lignin depolymerization strategies and functional polymer construction based on lignin-derived monomers.

This review summarizes the current developments of microalgal biofuel production based on system design costs such as initial design cost and expected net profit and describes several examples of designs for economic microalgae cultivation.

This study advances the fundamental understanding of the correlation between lignin structure and reactivity during hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL).

This novel low-temperature process enables continuous processing via heat from renewable energy with thermal energy storage in molten salts.

Selective synthesis of 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) from 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) by hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) was studied over Ag-promoted Cu/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts.

A low-cost bimetallic bifunctional 5–5 wt% FeNi/H-Beta-300 catalyst was investigated in solventless hydrodeoxygenation of lignin-derived model compounds isoeugenol or dihydroeugenol in batch and continuous modes.

Optimizing the organosolv process parameters towards establishing a novel biorefinery concept based on marginally used halophyte biomass.

Potential to capture 70% of feedstock carbon while >50% of feedstock lower heating value is converted to biofuel and coproducts.

Biojet fuel production from woody biomass pyrolysis oil demonstrates economic viability at MFSP of $1.03 per L, while also reducing GHG emissions by up to 95.27% compared to conventional jet fuel production, providing environmental benefits.

Valorizing industrial side streams that are currently burnt to a low value is important to make biorefining more sustainable.

Hybrid yeast strain co-produces isobutanol and ethanol at high yields. Reducing hydrolysis enzyme loading and enhancing xylose conversion greatly impact the economic potential of the biorefinery.

Pyrolysis of pretreated biomass significantly reduces pyrolysis vapor acidity, enabling improved downstream upgrading. Also, increased selectivity for sugars could provide another valuable co-product for bioethanol.

Lactic acid is produced from bread waste using microbial fermentation under acid-neutral and low-pH scenarios. Though the acid-neutral scenario is economically better, the primary economic barriers are huge capital investment and utility consumption.

Exploring the economic and environmental suitability of an enhanced bioenergy plant producing synthetic gasoline and diesel from date palm waste in Tunisia with PV-based supply of electricity and oxygen.

Titania crystal phases were able to tune the nature of metal through metal–support interaction and acidic sites for surface rearrangement and hydrogenation of furfural.

Simple methods for desalting HTL-derived biocrudes from food waste improve their properties and reduce hydrotreating demands, bringing them toward use as marine fuels.

The dilemma of fossil fuel use, political versatility, and global climate change have driven motivation that has led to growing interest in developing and implementing renewable energy and green chemical technologies.

Fatty acid-based biomass is one of the most abundant organic carbon sources and has acquired significant attention as a renewable feedstock for producing renewable bio-jet fuel via hydrocatalytic processes.

This study investigates the catalytic effects of ZrO₂/CeO₂ mixed oxides on product gases produced via self-sustaining smouldering combustion of lignocellulosic biomass.

Methanol is a promising renewable energy carrier that can be used as a favourable substrate for biotechnology, due to its high energy efficiency conversion and ease of integration within existing infrastructure.

This study reports the solar light-driven activation of a bicyclic aminoxyl mediator to achieve C–C bond cleavage of a lignin model compound at room temperature using a donor–π-conjugated bridge–acceptor organic dye-based photoelectrochemical system.

A novel green TENG with modified CNF as the electronegative tribolayer was prepared and can be used as a self-powered power module for wearable electronics.

Jet fuel-range C₁₄ and C₁₅ dicycloalkanes are synthesized for the first time with creosol and formaldehyde, two platform compounds that can be derived from lignocellulose.

Lignin-first depolymerization of biomass using reductive catalytic fractionation is a promising option for the biorefinery as it selectively converts lignin to value-added phenolic monomers while preserving the carbohydrate fraction.

Formic acid-mediated levulinic acid valorization was conducted using a CoPd nanoalloy embedded N-doped carbon catalyst for the production of γ-valerolactone and pyrrolidones.

In this work mechanocatalytic partial depolymerization is used to obtain glycans from lignocellulosic feedstocks, e.g. beet pulp. Thereby the yield of the glycans is increased, and can be increased further with a suitable pre-treatment.

Kicking out water: optimising the interaction between support hydrophobicity and surface acid sites in WO_x/ZrO_x/PMO catalysts unlocks an efficient route for the upgrading of low-quality waste bio-oil feedstocks to biodiesel.

Continuous hydrogenolysis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-dimethylfuran is successfully developed and demonstrated using alumina-supported nickel–iron alloy catalysts with in situ observation of the structural transformation.

Ethanol is catalytically upgraded to diesel.

A cost- and time-saving strategy for the recovery of biomethane from water hyacinth using an energy-efficient combined pretreatment.