Bacterial Biorefineries: Transforming Agro-Industrial Waste into Sustainable Solutions for a Circular Bioeconomy
Sevakumaran Vigneswari1,2,*, Muhammad Shahrul Md Noor3, Fazilah Ariffin3,4, Azila Adnan3,4, Amirah Alias3, Lakshmanan Muthulakshmi5, Hemalatha Murugaiah6, Nor Omaima Harun3,4, Nurul Nadhirah Ruzelan3, Lakshiminarayanan Rajamani2
Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.14, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2025.02025-0148
- 25 March 2026
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Valorization of Lignocellulosic Biomass for Functional Materials)
Abstract The escalating accumulation of agro-industrial waste—exceeding 350 million tons annually from post-harvest residues, food processing, and aquaculture—poses serious environmental threats, including greenhouse gas emissions, groundwater contamination, and excessive landfill usage. Although conventional treatment methods such as composting, incineration, and recycling offer partial mitigation, they often fall short of delivering scalable, circular solutions. Microbial biorefineries have emerged as a transformative approach, enabling the conversion of diverse biomass streams into high-value renewable materials. Through microbial fermentation, agricultural and municipal waste can be repurposed into functional outputs such as nanocellulose, biochar, and biocompatible compounds with applications in packaging, More >
Graphic Abstract