Biorefineries Roadmap - as part of the German Federal Government action plans for the material and energetic utilisation of renewable raw materials

Germany and all the countries in the international community face enormous challenges with regard to the issues of global population growth, dwindling fossil fuel resources, and the ever-advancing climate change. The central task will be to provide a growing world population with adequate food, energy and raw materials, while taking care not to impact the natural environment, and to actively reduce climate-damaging greenhouse gases. To these ends, it will be necessary to develop intelligent solutions that are in keeping with a resource-efficient and sustainable economy. Having set out these objectives, biorefinery concepts – as central elements of a bio-based economy, and promising largely waste-free use of biomass, efficient conversion routes, and pathways for the energetic and material use of biomass – could play an important role for a future bioeconomy in the utilisation and conversion of biogenic raw materials and residues.