8 - Valorization of Industrial Wastes for Biofuel Production: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

In this chapter, we present an overview of the valorization of industrial waste for biofuel production using various industrial wastes. The major challenges we are facing now include depletion of natural resources, waste accumulation, and environmental deterioration, which lead to a rapid increase in the cost of raw materials and restrictive legislation in waste disposal. This pressure on the global environment has led to calls for an increased use of renewable energy sources that should be entirely depend on renewable carbon. The shift from a fossil fuel-based economy to a bio-based economy demands the exploitation of scientific innovations and breakthroughs for the evolution of microbial bioconversion of various industrial wastes into renewable biofuel energy in future. The existing industrial wastes and by-product streams such as food industry wastes, pulp and paper industry wastes, dairy industry wastes, and other wastes such as hotels and residential waste cooking oil could be significantly utilized as renewable feedstocks for biofuel generation. The valorization of such wastes has drawn great attention in regard to resources with an apparent economic as well as environmental concern. Accordingly, this would be the likely field that shows effective prospects toward industrial by-product reuse, waste management, and realization of circular bioeconomy. However, full-scale realization of industrial waste valorization is not simple because multiple technological, microbiological, and economic challenges need to be settled. In this chapter, we considered different valorization options for several industrial wastes while identifying the associated challenges and exploring the opportunities for future.