Strategies for the Integration of Sustainability in Biorefinery Process Design: A Systematic Review

The design of biorefineries is a complex engineering task, requiring simultaneous consideration of sustainability objectives and operational goals within a specific socio-economical context. Biorefinery design must balance the required technical performance that allows the facility to produce products meeting market specifications with the needs of diverse stakeholders, including investors, regulatory authorities, and local communities. To assess the extent to which sustainability principles are incorporated into current biorefinery design practices, this study conducted a systematic literature review of 103 research publications according to three distinct categories: scope, addressed sustainability dimensions and techniques employed, identifying key challenges and trends in sustainable biorefinery design. It was found that analyzed studies primarily focused on advanced design stages, evaluating defined pathways, scenarios or fully developed processes using mostly optimization techniques. Limited attention is given to early design stages. In relation to sustainability dimensions, studies focus more on economic and environmental criteria, with social aspects being less frequently considered. These findings highlight insights into current biorefinery design methodologies and its limitations, emphasizing the need for an integrated approach to advance the creation of future sustainable biorefineries that produce profitable high-value products with minimal environmental and social impacts.