The current status and challenges of biomass biorefineries in Africa: A critical review and future perspectives for bioeconomy development.

Africa benefits from diverse biomasses that are rich in high-added value materials and precursors for energy, food, agricultural, cosmetic and medicinal applications. Many African countries are interested in valorizing biomasses to develop efficient and integrated biorefinery processes and their use for local and regional economic development. Thus, this report critically reviews the current status of African biomass richness, its diversity, and potential applications. Moreover, particular attention is given to bioenergy production, mainly by biological and thermochemical conversion processes. This also includes biomass valorization in agriculture, particularly for the production of plant-based biostimulants, which are a potential emerging agri-input sector worldwide. This study points out that even though several processes for biofuel, biogas, biofertilizer and biostimulant production have already been established in Africa, their development on a larger scale remains limited. This study also reports the different socioeconomic and political aspects of biomass applications, along with their challenges, opportunities, and future research perspectives, to promote concrete technologies transferable into an industrial level.

Recent trends in organic coating based on biopolymers and biomass for controlled and slow release fertilizers.

The growth of the human population is causing an exponential increase in the need for food. Fertilizers are one of the most important elements to meet this increased demand and to ensure global food security. Many enhanced efficiency fertilizers, such as controlled-release fertilizers (CRFs) have been developed. Although these fertilizers offer many advantages over prior generations, their high cost of production as well as unfavorable effects on the environment and soil quality have limited their use. To mitigate these issues, CRFs based on biopolymers (CRF@BB) represent a new generation of fertilizers produced by coating the granules with biopolymers. In addition to controlling the nutrient release rate, these products also enhance the soil quality and they reduce the negative effects associated with conventional fertilizers. This review summarizes the recent advances in biopolymers and derived biopolymers used in the area of CRF@BB, the coating technologies, and the parameters governing the release behavior through organic coating materials, as well as the effect of coated CRFs on the soil and plants growth.

New generation of controlled release phosphorus fertilizers based on biological macromolecules: Effect of formulation properties on phosphorus release.

The main objective of this work was to study the possibility of using polysaccharides and lignin as a coating material for water-soluble triple superphosphate (TSP) granular fertilizers. In this study, composites based on three polysaccharides (sodium alginate (alginic acid sodium salt): AL, kappa-carrageenan: CR and carboxymethyl cellulose sodium salt: CM) and lignin (LG) were prepared. The lignin used was extracted from olive pomace (OP) biomass using the alkali method. The morphological, mechanical, and surface properties as well as the thermal behavior of the coatings were characterized and compared. Their morphology and thickness revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed good adhesion between the fertilizer and coating materials. The results showed that the lignin-carrageenan formulation (LGCR) exhibited the highest water absorbency and elastic modulus. Release tests showed the effect of the TSP/biopolymer mass ratio and that the slowest P release was obtained with the LGCR@TSP formulation composite within 3 day. In addition, 59.5% and 72.5% of P was released after 3 days with the TSP/biopolymer mass ratios of 5/1 and 15/1, respectively, compared to 100% P release with the uncoated TSP.