Neoteric solvent-based blue biorefinery: for chemicals, functional materials and fuels from oceanic biomass

Abstract

Blue biorefineries integrate the production of renewable chemicals, fuels, functional materials and marketable commodities utilising biomass of marine origin. The global climate issues, ever-increasing population and depletion of fossil resources make the development of a bioeconomy based on sustainable resources a priority. Green technologies are emerging as a potential aid for developing eco-friendly processes to treat biomass for their conversion into value-added marketable products. New types of solvent systems such as ionic liquids (ILs), deep eutectic solvents (DESs), super critical CO₂ (SC-CO₂) and biomass-derived solvents are gaining attention for the efficient bioprocessing of natural resources. Due to their distinguished properties, they are promising solvent systems for blue biorefineries. This review summarizes the concept of blue biorefineries, the valuable resources available from the ocean, the marketable commodities developed using marine biomass and the potential of neoteric solvent systems for blue biorefineries.