Highlights
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Valorization of waste lignocellulosic biomass is the key to sustainable production of chemicals, liquid fuels and polymers in the long term.
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Two strategies are envisaged: (i) conversion of the biomass into drop-in hydrocarbons – lower olefins, alkanes and aromatics – which form the backbone of petrochemical refineries – followed by further conversion by existing technologies or redox economic conversion directly to oxygenated products.
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Whichever strategy is followed, the employment of effective catalytic methodologies, both chemo- and biocatalysis, will play a pivotal role in these developments.