Chapters authored
Agro-Industrial Waste Revalorization: The Growing Biorefinery
Agro-industrial residues have been the spotlight of different researches worldwide, due to some of their constituents being raw material to generate a diversified variety of industrial products. Nowadays, this situation keeps prevailing and will increase continuously in the future. In the agroindustry, diverse biomasses are subjected to distinct unit processes for providing value to different waste materials from agriculture, food processing, and alcoholic industries. In this chapter, we reported an updated survey of different renewable organic materials that including agricultural wastes can be converted to bioenergy. Similarly, these wastes encrypt different bioactive compounds with an excellent nutraceutical functions and with high adding value. In addition, biocomposites can be elaborated using fibers from wastes with a wide variety of applications in the automotive and packaging industry. Vinasses derived from tequila industry in Mexico represent a lot of potential to extract biocompounds, and we propose a process to obtain them. A perspective of market trend is mentioned in this chapter for compounds derived from agro-industrial wastes. Adding value to those agro-industrial wastes can provide the reduction of negative impact emission, discharge, or disposal, solves an environmental problem, and generates additional income.
Part of the book: Biomass for Bioenergy
Getting Environmentally Friendly and High Added-Value Products from Lignocellulosic Waste
In recent years, alternatives have been sought for the reuse of lignocellulosic waste generated by agricultural and other industries because it is biodegradable and renewable. Lignocellulosic waste can be used for a wide variety of applications, depending on their composition and physical properties. In this chapter, we focus on the different treatments that are used for the extraction of natural cellulose fibers (chemical, physical, biological methods) for more sophisticated applications such as reinforcement in biocomposites. Due to the different morphologies that the cellulose can present, depending from sources, it is possible to obtain cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), micro- nanofibrillated cellulose (MFC/NFC), and bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) with different applications in the industry. Among the different cellulose nanomaterials highlighted characteristics, we can find improved barrier properties for sound and moisture, the fact that they are environmentally friendly, increased tensile strength and decreased weight. These materials have the ability to replace metallic components, petroleum products, and nonrenewable materials. Potential applications of cellulose nanomaterials are present in the automotive, construction, aerospace industries, etc. Also, this chapter exhibits global market predictions of these new materials or products. In summary, lignocellulosic residues are a rich source of cellulose that can be extracted to obtain products with high value-added and eco-friendly characteristics.
Part of the book: Biotechnological Applications of Biomass