Trends in Sustainable Development and Design of Biorefinery Processes and Supply Chains

Dear Colleagues,

The bioeconomy represents a global opportunity to transform lignocellulosic biomass into bioproducts – which in many cases can replace fossil-derived products leading to reduced greenhouse gas emissions, new product functionalities, unique product portfolio revenue streams, employment in the regions of established and emerging economy nations, as well as other economic, environmental and social benefits. These and other opportunities have motivated extensive research and development as well as investment in first-of-kind biorefinery facilities. Nevertheless, design challenges have been overwhelming, and many barriers remain, for example: lignocellulosic biomass is expensive and variable in composition, there have been technology failures, companies have been hesitant to assume the risk needed to develop new cross-sectoral value chains, heterogeneous byproducts from bioprocesses have complex functionalities, etc.

Despite these challenges, the global bioeconomy is underway. The modern-day transformation to the bioeconomy gained momentum in the early 2000s and has evolved significantly over the last two decades. Today like never before, biorefineries are being implemented for the production of biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials – finally, at pre-commercial and commercial scales. The growth of the bioeconomy continues despite our changing world of emerging technologies, pandemics, economic realities, climate change, and social demands. Without doubt, the bioeconomy is still in its infancy – and far from realizing its full potential.

What are some of the trends of particular importance as we embark on the 2020s? The bioeconomy should be implemented in a manner consistent with the circular economy, and new value chains designed to achieve this will be more competitive. Digitalization technology is a priority for many companies, and the long-term competitive biorefinery will be designed in a manner synergistic with Industry 4.0–for example, leveraging digitalization technologies to deliver novel product portfolios in sophisticated supply chains, including both commodity and added-value products. Industrial symbiosis and unique collaboration models are being born between companies unlikely to have done this prior to the bioeconomy, sharing data that improve the competitiveness of their unique value chains. Business and innovation ecosystems are being created in order to address the risks of creating circular value chains in the bioeconomy.

The bioeconomy landscape is dynamic, and the risks are high. Systematic frameworks are needed to assess risks objectively, identify opportunities for de-risking, and better enable stakeholders and company decision-makers to move forward in establishing novel bioeconomy approaches. This Special Issue on “Trends in Sustainable Development and Design of Biorefinery Processes and Supply Chains” aims to attract contributions that focus on leading edge design and systems analysis techniques in order to address today’s bioeconomy emerging issues. Contributions are welcome that identify and define emerging bioeconomy challenges, and/or uncover novel advances in biorefinery process design and systems analysis techniques considering new developments in the bioeconomy. Contributions emphasizing analytical methodologies and/or case study applications are encouraged.  Contributions are welcome in, but not limited to, the following areas:

• Novel frameworks for the sustainable design of biorefinery processes, including for example techno-economics, life cycle assessment, site-wide energy analysis, supply chain management and other tools.
• Multi-criteria decision-making considering the benefits and risks of sustainable biorefineries.
• Impact of climate change-related and circularity-related policies on the bioeconomy.
• Deep decarbonisation of energy-intensive biorefinery processes; climate change neutrality implications.
• Life cycle design and other analytical methods for designing and assessing circular bioeconomy value chains.
• Design of sustainable biorefineries considering safety, resilience, and flexibility.
• Design of sustainable biorefineries considering the water-energy-food nexus.
• Coupling bioeconomy strategies with Industry 4.0 and digitalization technologies. 
• Case studies of industrial symbiosis and collaboration for the development of sustainable value chains.
• Design of novel business and innovation ecosystems that address the dynamic bioeconomy landscape.

Prof. Dr. Paul Stuart
Guest Editor

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• bioeconomy trends
• sustainable biorefinery design
• supply chain management
• circular bioeconomy
• deep decarbonization
• life cycle design
• water-energy-food nexus
• biorefinery energy analysis
• digital value chains
• biorefinery competitiveness
• bioeconomy ecosystems