Design strategies for sustainable biorefineries

The biorefinery concept is considered as one of the research cornerstones in the last years and as the best option to transform the different biomass systems into value-added products. A review about different approaches related to the modelling and assessment of biorefineries is presented taking into account raw materials, technologies, processing routes, products, and technical, economic and environmental aspects. Methodologies for biorefineries design as conceptual design, optimization and early-stage approaches are studied. Three main concepts are analyzed for the conceptual design of biorefinery systems: hierarchy, sequencing and integration. Finally, the proposed strategy for biorefinery synthesis is applied briefly to two previously cases developed by the authors. A mass index as a new basic concept is applied for understanding the biorefinery efficiency in terms of processing biomass. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.