Regular articleDevelopment of advanced biorefinery concepts using magnetically responsive materials

- Magnetic materials can significantly simplify biorefinery technologies.
- These materials enable fast, simple and selective separation.
- Application of magnetic (bio)catalysts and microbial cells in biorefinery.
- Application of magnetic techniques for the isolation of target compounds.

Utilization of magnetic materials and particles brings a considerable simplification into biorefinery technologies, based on their fast, simple and selective separation even from various difficult-to-handle environments and conditions. Additionally, application of magnetically responsive (bio)catalysts can significantly improve the productivity, economic feasibility, sustainability and product quality during the biorefinery processes. This review is focused on the presentation of typical examples of magnetic materials applicable in biorefinery, especially for the preparation of magnetically responsive enzymatic and whole-cell biocatalysts, as well as solid acid/base catalysts, magnetically responsive adsorbents or magnetically separable materials with suitable properties for isolation and purification of target compounds from complex mixtures. This brief overview emphasises remarkable possibilities of magnetic materials and magnetic techniques and their application potential in biorefinery technologies.