An Approach to Modify the Current Agricultural and Agro-Industrial Systems into Integrated Bioindustrial Systems and Biorefineries to Develop Sustainable Bioeconomy

Abstract

The existing agricultural and agro-industrial systems are not economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable as they implement the linear mode of production, which should be amended to the cyclic mode of production to promote sustainability. Therefore, this study aims at providing an approach to transform the present agricultural systems (beef, dairy, and poultry farms as well as cereals and vegetable crops production) and agro-industrial systems (ethanol industry and fish industry) into integrated bioindustrial systems and biorefineries by altering their linear mode of production into a circular mode of production to create a coherent bioeconomy, where the bioeconomy includes the conversion of renewable bioresources and waste streams into value-added bioproducts, such as food, feed, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, biomaterials, biochemicals, biofuels, and bioenergy. Whereas the integrated bioindustrial systems allow designing cyclic production and consumption systems to maximize the resources and energy use efficiencies, forming a further ecologically sound and healthy environment through conversion of biowaste into value-added bioproducts, and emphasizing the socio-economic development through creating new employment opportunities and ground-breaking technologies and novel bioproducts. An important key issue is that digitalization is essential to the development of the bioeconomy, where digitalization supports practices innovation by boosting both supply and value chains in the circular bio-based economy.