What is a biorefinery

This chapter explores biorefinery models and their status, setting the stage for later chapters that focus more on public policy. Biorefinery models have evolved according to needs from the first ethanol mills using food crops as feedstocks to more complex (and more expensive) models using feedstocks other than food crops. The ultimate goal is the widespread application of the integrated biorefinery that can use multiple feedstocks and generate multiple products (fuels, chemicals, materials, electricity). However, these are still not ready for the market and are seen as high-risk investments. Building the first-ofkind flagship plants is proving difficult. Meanwhile, marine biorefineries, which offer similar advantages, remain difficult to design and build. And other yet more novel biorefinery concepts are arising.