South Africa’s Bio-Economy Strategy (2013) includes the development of integrated biorefineries from biobased feedstocks.

“In a low-carbon future, biorefineries (comparable to petroleum refineries) will use renewable biomass to produce bioenergy, biomaterials and bio-based chemicals. An industrial bio-economy should develop an integrated biorefinery concept for the co-production of food and non-food (feed, chemicals, materials and energy) to facilitate the transition from fossil resources to renewable bioresources.

“An integrated biorefinery will provide cost and energy efficient ways to make optimal use of biomass for several purposes. Biomass could be used as building blocks for the generation of high-value products such as proteins, fine chemicals, carbohydrates and oils, which create opportunities for a viable industrial bio-economy.”

To summarise

Strengthen solid waste research, development and innovation
Develop integrated biorefineries from bio-based feedstocks
Agro-processing initiatives