Design of biorefineries aligned with stakeholders’ preferences: How to select optimal valorization pathways?

Addressing agri-food waste accumulation via development of sustainable biorefineries is essential for advancing the circular bioeconomy. However, conflicting priorities of stakeholders, from feedstock producers to consumers and policymakers, are significant barriers that disrupt the selection of optimal valorization pathways. This study proposes a methodology to support early-stage biorefinery design by systematically integrating stakeholder preferences. Stakeholder insights are collected through qualitative data analysis (QDA) and translated into explicit design criteria, which are incorporated into the decision-making process. The approach combines multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) to identify optimal valorization pathways with life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate environmental performance. This enables the simultaneous consideration of economic and environmental objectives while ensuring alignment with stakeholder expectations. The proposed framework serves as a practical roadmap for decision-making in biorefinery design, providing specific recommendations for selecting sustainable and stakeholder-aligned valorization strategies. • Stakeholder preferences are systematically integrated into early biorefinery design. • A Delphi–QDA framework translates expert insights into operational design criteria. • Superstructure optimization links stakeholder priorities to valorization pathways. • Economic and environmental objectives are jointly optimized using LCA-based metrics. • A practical roadmap supports decision-making under conflicting sustainability goals.