Separation and Purification of Phytochemicals as Co-Products in Biorefineries

Recently, there has been increasing interest in the conversion of biomass to bioproducts, including biofuels, chemicals, and heat and power, due to the growing demand and increasing costs of fossil fuel and the need for national energy independence, as well as the associated environmental concerns about greenhouse gas emissions. At present, biomass feedstock cost is still expensive, accounting for a large fraction of the total operating cost. In order to reduce the production cost of biofuels such as bioethanol, it is necessary to extract and separate bioactive compounds or phytochemicals as value-added co-products prior to or during biomass conversion. Extraction and use of phytochemicals have been studied for many years, with more focus on pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals from fruits, vegetables, or other food crops/plants, while less research has been done on separation of phytochemicals from bioresources that can be used as feedstocks in biorefineries, such as woody and perennial plant materials, and microalgae. As the use of different species of biomass for various bioproduct applications, including biofuels and biochemicals, becomes more prevalent, it is important to consider simultaneous production of value-added co-products within the framework of a biorefinery. As has been successfully shown in petrochemical refineries, in addition to manufacturing large-volume commodity