Biopolymers

Full course description

Alternative feedstocks to conventional fossil raw materials have attracted increasing interest over recent years for the manufacture of chemicals, fuels and materials. The growing attention about a green and sustainable chemistry has also contributed to call attention to biomass and specifically on lignocellulosic feedstock as a promising, renewable and vast resource for chemicals, mainly without competition with food applications. The concept of biorefinery can be defined as “an integral unit that can convert biomass into bio-based products including food, feed, chemical and/or materials, and bioenergy such as biofuels and power”. The aim of this emerging concept is to use the lignocellulosic biomass by separating its main constituents with increased value provided by its components of cellulose, lignins, hemicelluoses and xylose. This concept of a biorefinery falls within the approach of green chemistry, avoiding the production of waste low value-products and recycling solvents used to extract all the components of biomass feedstock. Another valuable source of the building blocks for the new materials is animal industry byproducts. Efficient utilization of animal industry byproducts has direct impact on the economy and environmental pollution. For example, treated fish waste has found many applications among with which the most important are biodiesel/biogas, dietectic products (chitosan), natural pigments (after extraction) and cosmetics (collagen).