LIBRA-C leads the way in establishing a unified and advanced biorefinery that transforms lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels, bio-based chemicals,
and biomass. Waste lignocellulosic biomass —such as rice husks, sugar beet pulp, and sugarcane bagasse—contains valuable products and are
potential substrates for microbes able to produce high-value biocommodities. The project advances in recover highly valued compounds from
biomasses, in green pretreatment approach, in consolidate process for ethanol production, in gas fermentation, and microbial bioelectrosystems
(BES). LIBRA-C develops and integrates an approach that unifies lignocellulose pretreatment with the valorization of CO2 emissions and effluents
emitted by current biorefineries. CO2 originating from glycolytic sugar conversion is captured through gas fermentation and microbial fuel cells convert
energy-rich effluents into electricity. These electricity is used to drive gas fermentation (CO2 + H2) for oganic acid, alcohol and biomass production in a
microbial electrosynthesis system (MES) or by an electro-driven fermentation (EDF). Unlike conventional biorefineries that lead to significant
environmental footprints. LIBRA-C's integration of BES offers a platform that can be strategically integrated into biorefineries to enable waste
valorization, energy generation, production of value-added chemicals, enhanced process efficiency, contributing to the development of more
sustainable and economically viable biorefineries. LIBRA-C incorporates Life Cycle Assessment and Techno-economic evaluation (LCA and TEA) to
evaluate environmental, and economic viability in alignment with EU and LAC directives as well as overall process scalability and sustainability. LIBRAC promotes open science to support a circular bioeconomy, establish the EU and LAC as frontrunners in agricultural-to-biocommodity innovation, and
expedite the transition toward zero-waste, climate-neutral biorefineries.
