Introduction to Biorefinery: Biomass to Biobased Products

The transition to a sustainable, biobased economy relies on our ability to replace fossil resources with renewable alternatives. Understanding how to design efficient processes to extract valuable components from biomass is key to this global industrial transformation. In this course, you will explore the foundational principles of biorefinery, learning how to transform raw biomass, agricultural residues, and waste streams into valuable building blocks for biobased products. You will gain the skills to evaluate feedstock composition, select appropriate separation technologies, and apply sustainable design principles to green chemical processes. What you'll learn: - Understand the fundamental chemistry of different biomass feedstocks, including plants, microalgae, and organic waste. - Evaluate primary and secondary extraction techniques to isolate proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. - Apply green chemistry metrics and circular economy principles to assess process efficiency. - Design basic biorefinery process chains that maximize resource recovery and minimize waste. - Analyze the economic and environmental trade-offs of biobased product value chains. You will begin by mastering essential terminology and the chemical composition of biomass before moving on to practical process design, separation technologies, and modern sustainability assessment methods. Through written explanations and conceptual exercises, you will build a solid foundation in biobased engineering. This course is designed for aspiring engineers, environmental scientists, and sustainability enthusiasts who are new to biobased technology and want a structured, accessible introduction with no prior engineering experience required. Start your journey toward building a sustainable, biobased future today.