Biorefinery approach for cassava-based industrial wastes: Current status and opportunities

Abstract

Cassava, an important food crop, has been extensively employed as raw materials for various agri-industries to produce starch, bioethanol and other biobased products/chemicals. These cassava-based industries also generate large quantities of wastes/residues, rich in organic matter and suspended solids, and pose significant environmental issues. Their complex biochemical composition with high organic content endows them with a great potential for bioconversion into value-added products via biorefinery thereby providing economic and environmental sustainability to cassava industries. This state-of-the-art review covers the source, composition and characteristics of cassava industrial wastes and residues, and their bioconversion into value-added products, mainly biofuels (ethanol and butanol), biogas, biosurfactant, organic acids and other valuable biochemicals among others. This paper also outlines future perspectives with respect to developing more effective and efficient bioconversion processes for converting the cassava wastes and residues into high-value products.

Keywords: Bioconversion; Bioenergy; Biorefinery; Cassava wastes/residues; Value-added products.