Waste Biorefinery Technologies for Accelerating Sustainable Energy Processes

Dear Colleagues,

By 2030, the bio-based economy is expected to have grown significantly in Europe. One of the pillars of this bioeconomy is the concept of biorefinery, the sustainable processing of several kinds of waste and biomass into a spectrum of marketable products and energy. While many research efforts have been conducted toward understanding, modelling, and designing conversion processes that can sustain a true circular economy, this knowledge is fragmented and unevenly distributed across Europe. Several countries lack appropriate policies and public engagement to endeavour the challenges ahead. Harmonisation must start with robust knowledge and the ability to cover the whole value chain, from source materials to marketable products. That is the mission of COST Action CA20127—Waste biorefinery technologies for accelerating sustainable energy processes (WIRE).

The WIRE COST Action is broadly organised into 4 key Working Groups (WG) that bring together experts from academia, industry, and technology transfer organisations and cover (1) raw materials, (2) biorefinery conversion technologies, (3) biorefinery applications, and (4) communication and dissemination. These WG will proactively contribute to promoting (i) the circular economy, (ii) bioenergy and bioeconomy, (iii) research and innovation in the field, (iv) applied research towards biorefineries’ implementation, and (v) EU-wide harmonisation of the scientific and technical approaches, thus facilitating engagement with policy makers and industry, paving the ground for a more effective link with the relevant industry sectors and attracting their interest.

This Special Issue in Reactions aims to publish some of the outcomes of WIRE COST Action and other research works that fall within the topic of the issue. We hope that this issue can positively influence the future landscape in science and technology in the critical field of waste biorefineries.

Dr. Diogo M.F. Santos
Dr. Catarina Nobre
Prof. Dr. Paulo Brito
Prof. Dr. Margarida Gonçalves
Guest Editors

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