Biorefinery Process Design, Modeling and Optimization

Dear Colleagues,

In nature, a wide array of resources can be processed to extract and recover biomolecules, with several applications at the industrial scale and even in more traditional uses. Organic material, derived from either animals or plants, can be used as a source of biomolecules or a substrate for bioconversion to release even more molecules with interesting applications. Food, drug development, bioenergy, and biocatalysis are among the end-use applications of the biorefinery concept from any resource or bioresource available. Product diversification can help overcome the apparent oil dependency for product development, which directly impacts the way of life of humanity or on devices or vehicles, which also has a very relevant effect. Bioactive molecules or macromolecules can be extracted or further processed from the biorefinery concept to achieve accumulation, recovery, and application. There are many possibilities to apply the biorefinery concept to responsibly exploit resources, including extraction by traditional means or using emerging technologies and even biotechnological conversion. One case in point is the versatility of processing fermentable sugars from residual biomass by using certain bacterial strains to produce butanol, ethanol, and hydrogen gas, all considered biofuels. Also, it is possible to extract bioactive polyphenols, considering that the extraction can be assisted by microwave radiation, ultrasound, and/or microbial biodegradation in the form of bioconversion or biotransformation of biomass.

This Special Issue, entitled “Biorefinery Process Design, Modeling and Optimization,” aims to present a collection of current advances and developments in the biorefinery concept for high-added-value extraction, recovery, and applications. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Designing strategies for high yields of biomass exploitation for biomolecule production, recovery, and application;
• Biotechnological processing to biotransform substrates under experimental designs using microbes and/or enzyme technology;
• Development of optimized strategies for extraction or bioconversion of substrates for biomolecule release and/or recovery;
• Modeling of biorefinery products to achieve prediction of larger scale production of high-added-value molecules.

Dr. Leopoldo J. Ríos González
Dr. Miguel Á. Medina Morales
Dr. Adolfo Romero Galarza
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• biomolecules
• bioactives
• bioprocessing
• macromolecules
• extraction
• recovery
• experimental design