Efficient Valorization of Biomass: A Perspective on Overcoming Critical Skepticisms Surrounding the Commissioning of Functional 2G Bio-refineries

By the year 2050, the world’s human population, which is estimated to attain a massive 9.7 billion, is also hastily equipping itself to confront the complete exhaustion of fossil fuels. While ~$710 billion USD is the tentative, collective global investment towards sustainable, green bio-energy production, skepticisms related to the feedstock supply chain, and real-time commercial viability of 2G bio-refineries continue to baffle policymakers. In an attempt to provide a suggestive approach, the present chapter, using preliminary data analytics to model two mutually exclusive hypothetical scenarios, elucidates that conventional feedstocks fall short by 1.57 × 103-fold to cater to the anticipated quantities of bio-ethanol production and face a deficit of 2.68 × 109-fold to meet the estimated global livestock fodder demand. Focusing on circular economical, zero-waste bio-refineries, the chapter provides perspectives on industrial symbiosis, biomass banking, and a government-funded co-operative bio-energy society to promote indigenous bio-fuel production and improve a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) value.