Biorefining is the process of "refining" multiple products from biomass as a feedstock or raw material much like a petroleum refinery that is currently in use. A biorefinery

Biorefinery

A biorefinery is a facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels, power, heat, and value-added chemicals from biomass...

is a facility like a petroleum refinery that comprises the various process steps or unit operations and related equipment to produce varioud bioproducts

Bioproducts

Bioproducts or Bio-based Products are materials, chemicals and energy derived from renewable biological resources.-Bioresources:Biological resources include agriculture, forestry, and biologically-derived waste, and there are many other renewable bioresource examples. One of the scientific terms...

 including fuels, power, materials and chemicals from biomass. Industrial biorefineries have been identified as the most promising route to the creation of a new domestic biobased industry producing entire spectrum of bioproducts or bio-based products.

Biomass has various components such as lignin

Lignin

Lignin or lignen is a complex chemical compound most commonly derived from wood, and an integral part of the secondary cell walls of plants and some algae. The term was introduced in 1819 by de Candolle and is derived from the Latin word lignum, meaning wood...

, cellulose

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....

, hemicellulose

Hemicellulose

A hemicellulose is any of several heteropolymers , such as arabinoxylans, present along with cellulose in almost all plant cell walls. While cellulose is crystalline, strong, and resistant to hydrolysis, hemicellulose has a random, amorphous structure with little strength...

, extractives, etc. Biorefinery can take advantage of the unique properties of each of biomass components enabling the production of various products. The various bioproducts can include fiber, fuels, chemicals, plastics etc.

See also

• Biomass
  Biomass
  Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....
  
  
• Biomass (ecology)
  Biomass (ecology)
  Biomass, in ecology, is the mass of living biological organisms in a given area or ecosystem at a given time. Biomass can refer to species biomass, which is the mass of one or more species, or to community biomass, which is the mass of all species in the community. It can include microorganisms,...
  
  
• Forest
  Forest
  A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
  
  
• Agriculture
  Agriculture
  Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
  
  
• Biogas
  Biogas
  Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Organic waste such as dead plant and animal material, animal dung, and kitchen waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas...
  
  
• Bioenergy
  Bioenergy
  Bioenergy is renewable energy made available from materials derived from biological sources. Biomass is any organic material which has stored sunlight in the form of chemical energy. As a fuel it may include wood, wood waste, straw, manure, sugarcane, and many other byproducts from a variety of...
  
  
• Biofuels
• Biochemicals
• Bioproducts
  Bioproducts
  Bioproducts or Bio-based Products are materials, chemicals and energy derived from renewable biological resources.-Bioresources:Biological resources include agriculture, forestry, and biologically-derived waste, and there are many other renewable bioresource examples. One of the scientific terms...