ABSTRACT
This chapter presents all bio-based feedstocks and their respective classification. Then, the platforms as articulating shaft in a biorefinery are indicated due to the feedstocks are transformed first into platforms and then into products through different transformation routes. The chapter discusses the main products of the biorefineries and presents some examples. The biomass feedstocks can be used to obtain food, biopolymers, biochemicals, and biofertilizers, among others. From the biorefinery point of view, the biomass feedstocks can also be classified into four main generations: the first generation considering food crops; the second generation based on the residues of food crops; the third generation considering the use of algae as feedstocks; and the fourth generation using captured CO2 mainly. Bio-based materials—including bio-based polymers, lubricants, solvents, and surfactants—are found to be an interesting option due to its emission reduction potential in the short and the long term. Biomolecules have great importance and potential in the market of some types of biomass.
