A Biochemical Approach to Attributing Value to Biodiversity – The Concept of the Zero Emissions Biorefinery

Janis Gravitis, (1998). A Biochemical Approach to Attributing Value to Biodiversity – The Concept of the Zero Emissions Biorefinery. 4th Annual World Congress on Zero Emissions in Windhoek, n/a-n/a

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  • Sub-type Journal article
    Author Janis Gravitis
    Title A Biochemical Approach to Attributing Value to Biodiversity – The Concept of the Zero Emissions Biorefinery
    Appearing in 4th Annual World Congress on Zero Emissions in Windhoek
    Publication Date 1998-10-16
    Place of Publication Tokyo
    Publisher United Nations University
    Start page n/a
    End page n/a
    Language eng
    Abstract Since the National Forum on Biodiversity held in Washington in 1996 biodiversity has become a central scientific and political problem world-wide. Deforestation, plantation industries and monoculture orientated agriculture with pest problem, chemical pollution, habitat fragmentation, etc., are factors increasing ongoing extinction of biodiversity. Biodiversity can be characterized not only as a variation of genes, diversity of higher plants, number of species but also as a sheer weight of biomass and variety of its biocomponents. The plantation core business utilizes maximum 10% of biomass and only few its components (for example, sugar cane juice, oil from oil palm, fibers from sisal, pineapple fruits, coffee, etc.). The loss of materials and biochemicals is the loss of value and diversity. A total conversion of plantation and agricultural waste materials into value added biochemicals like sugars, vitamins, citric acid, furfural, lipids, waxes, xylitol, medicals and many other products means applying a strategy of replacing petroleum products with biochemicals from biomass and it should facilitate an indirect biodiversity conservation. It has been shown that the substitution of petroleum refinery with biorefinery modifies 3R approach (reduce, reuse, recycle) to 4R approach (replace, reduce, reuse, recycle). Strategies of replacing petroleum products with chemicals from biomass need an integration of industries in the clusters with Zero Emissions. Besides environmental benefits there are economical benefits from biorefinery. Biorefinery creates new economy - lignocellulosics (in the narrow sense "carbohydrate") economy similar to petrochemical economy. The progress of new and conventional biorefinery technologies such as steam explosion, solid state extrusion, pyrolysis, etc. together with biotechnologies has been demonstrated. Issues of biodiversity protection and conservation and a variety of value added biochemicals from biomass are tightly connected with the value of world's ecosystem services and natural capital, including natural resources and environmental conditions, problem.
    UNBIS Thesaurus BIOCHEMISTRY
    BIOMASS
    NATURE CONSERVATION
    BIOTECHNOLOGY
    BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
    AGRICULTURAL WASTES
    Copyright Holder United Nations University
    Copyright Year 1998
    Copyright type All rights reserved
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    Created: Tue, 02 Nov 2021, 10:27:42 JST