Valorization of sugarcane biorefinery residues using fungal biocatalysis

Abstract

A sustainable future requires novel technologies that transform renewable feedstocks into liquid transport fuels, materials, and fine chemicals. Existing sugarcane biorefineries (sugar mills) generate a wide range of renewable feedstocks that can be readily converted into value-added products. Emerging biorefinery technologies offer further expansion of the products that can be generated in sugarcane biorefineries but biocatalysts that can use by-products and residues from these emerging technologies are needed to fully realize the opportunity these technologies represent. Filamentous fungi are versatile biocatalysts that can transform sugarcane biorefinery by-products and residues into a wide range of valuable products. This review provides an overview of sugarcane-based biorefining, existing and emerging processing technologies with application in sugarcane biorefineries; the residues and by-products generated in such a facility; and the opportunities to use filamentous fungi as biocatalysts to produce enzymes, organic acids, single cell protein, specialized metabolites, and animal feed.