Building and evaluating prospective scenarios for corn-based biorefineries

Abstract

Global warming and increasing environmental pollution have become global concerns that, coupled with the scarcity of traditional forms of energy, have motivated the implementation of more sustainable production systems, such as biorefineries. This is because biorefineries are capable of integrating technologies and processes in a single facility, generating biofuels, value-added chemicals, and energy. Thus, the aim of the study was to investigate the bioproducts and emergent technologies surrounding the processing of corn into bioethanol and refined oil. A bibliometric analysis he was carried out in order to construct and evaluate prospective scenarios related to corn biorefineries. An analysis of the proposed layouts highlighted flexibility in the production process, given that one raw material could be transformed into various bioproducts. Thus, the results presented provide a bibliographic foundation for future studies on integrating residues-processes-products in corn processing. The reason for this is that the technological routes presented could be considered incremental innovations to develop a biorefinery, which takes place gradually, given that highly integrated biorefineries are highly complex.