ABSTRACT
The global energy consumption is on the rise with increasing world population, high standards of living, and energy-use pattern. Presently, the basic feedstock to produce commodity fuel and chemicals is crude oil. The concept of biomass-based biorefinery is an integrated approach, capable of producing multiple products which are crucial for commercialization of biomass-based products and mitigating the adverse effects of local ecosystem services. The biorefinery manufacturing techniques coupled with agro-energy crops (copra, castor seed, sesame, groundnut kernel, rapeseed, palm kernel, mustard seed, sunflower, palm fruit, soybean, cottonseed, etc.) can ensure sustainable development in biomass-based bioproducts and biopower, leading to a conceptual change from petro-refinery to biorefinery. Technical areas such as tissue culture technology, plant genomics, breeding programmes, biotechnology, genetic engineering, and chemical engineering of desirable traits must be taken into consideration for better development of biorefinery concept.
