The Environmental Benefits of Biorefinery and Energy Production from Pulp and Paper Industrial Wastes

Nowadays, high dependence on fossil fuels for chemical and fuel production, and also, the severe shortage of these resources has raised serious concerns. Moreover, increasing in greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution are also an important reason for reviewing industries with conventional processes. In recent years, biorefinery has received much attention from the lignocellulosic industry, especially in the field of converting natural polymeric wastes (black liquor, sludge, etc.) to value-added products by supplying part of the chemicals and fuel required by industry. Many studies have been done on the conversion of hemicelluloses into high value-added materials. In most of these studies, the aim was to optimize the extraction conditions and then convert them. Furthermore, biorefinery can help to creating value-added products from black liqueur derived from pulping lignocellulosic materials in papermaking as by-products of pulp and paper. Finaly, economically, biorefinery will boost the economic sector of these plants. This paper discusses the main goals of biorefinery of natural polymer waste from paper mills that have multifaceted impacts on the economy, energy and the environment.