Advance membrane separation processes for biorefineries

Biorefining is a novel approach accepted worldwide involving a natural bio-based feedstock (crops and crops residue) conversion process to provide a wide range of bio-based products including biofuel (bioethanol, biodiesel, and bio-oil), biomaterial, and different value-added chemicals. Agricultural waste, the most plentiful and cost-effective raw material, can successfully displace foodstock-based bioenergy resources, reducing the world's food crisis. Crucial factors for transforming biomass to biofuel are diversity of pretreatment, conversion, separation, and purification. Traditional upstream and downstream processes use expensive chemicals and high energy-consuming equipment that hinders the scale-up of such an operation from a pilot to an industrial study. For the sustainable production of fuels and energy, it is necessary to come up with a unique technique that uses an energy-efficient and eco-friendly process to reuse the valuable chemicals employed in the process and recover each value-added product with maximum purity. The proposed integrated membrane-based advance technology efficiently overcomes almost all drawbacks associated with traditional processes. Thus, the employment of membranes in current biorefineries has become a part of clean energy research focusing on environment and technoeconomic aspects.