TY - EJOU
AU - Karim, Adnan Asad
AU - Molina, Roque Aguado
AU - Tostado-Véliz, Marcos
AU - Arévalo-Cordero, Paúl
AU - Ajiboye, Emmanuel Ayorinde
TI - Synergistic Integration of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems for Energy-Autonomous Biorefineries: A State-of-the-Art Review
T2 - Energy Engineering
PY -
VL -
IS -
SN - 1546-0118
AB - Biorefineries are an important pathway for the sustainable valorization of biomass, especially in rural and resource-distributed regions. However, their economic and environmental performance depends strongly on how energy is supplied to the biorefineries. The use of fossil-based heat and power can reduce their overall sustainability. Integrating renewable energy systems offers a promising alternative. This review examines the technical aspects of the integration of hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) into biorefineries to achieve energy autonomy. Quantitative analysis identifies thermal operations like drying (6–15 MJ kg−1) and distillation (8–14 MJ kg−1) as primary energy sinks, while biochemical processes like fermentation require only 0.8–2.0 MJ kg−1. Integrating concentrated solar thermal systems can achieve solar-to-syngas efficiencies of 20%–35% and reduce internal biomass consumption as a heat source by 33%. The study highlights that solar-assisted systems can increase overall energy efficiency to 54%–75%, significantly higher than the 34% seen in standalone plants. Additionally, wind energy-integrated facilities can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 92.5%, and advanced solid oxide fuel cell hybrids demonstrate electrical efficiencies up to 63%. Biomass-powered combined heat and power systems integrated with district heating can achieve 70%–90% overall efficiency. However, economic barriers exist, such as a 74% increase in capital costs for certain solar-assisted configurations. The review concludes that decentralized, HRES-powered biorefineries offer a sustainable pathway for regional energy security by overcoming intermittency through synergistic technology integration.
KW - Biomass conversion; biorefinery; renewable energy; de-fossilization; circular bioeconomy
DO - 10.32604/ee.2026.084829