Biowaste valorisation in a future circular bioeconomy

The biowaste refinery concept has received significant attention in recent years as a sustainable alternative the petroleum refinery, exploiting the biowaste for producing high value bioproducts. However, waste-based biorefineries mainly apply homogeneous waste streams from agriculture and food processing as feedstock. This paper presents the state of the art of mixed-biowaste biorefinery concepts. We identified 20 studies that use the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) as feedstock, producing enzymes, bioplastics, biopesticides and other high value products. Valorisation efficiency (output product per kg OFMSW) and potential revenue by valorising the OFMSW into different products (Euro/ton OFMSW) was analysed for the identified studies. It was found that enzymes have the highest potential revenue followed by biopesticides and bioplastics. Developing biorefineries applying OFMSW as feedstock presents a promising opportunity for moving up the waste hierarch by coupling the waste and production sector in a future circular bioeconomy. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.