Virtual biorefineries: computational tools for bridging the gap toward a low carbon economy

Abstract A consensus in the scientific community is being consolidated, concerning the likeliness of a global temperature increase above 2°C at 2100. This should imply a swift change in ways of life, toward a low carbon, sustainable economy. Biomass has a significant role in this switchover, with biorefineries replacing the fossil oil refining and petrochemical industries as suppliers of (bio)fuels and (bio)materials. This transition demands software for the techno-economic–environmental assessment of new, environmental-friendly technologies. The virtual biorefinery is a process simulator based on first principles (conservation of mass and energy, thermodynamics) that provides computational tools to support these analyses. This chapter presents the recent literature on this subject and details a methodology named retro-techno-economic–environmental analysis, based on metrics from techno-economic and life cycle analyses. Some hints concerning techniques in the field of (bio)process systems engineering are presented, including process sensitivity analysis and use of surrogate models, to improve the simulators’ robustness.