article · Environmental Technology & Innovation
Agro-industrial activities generate more than 140 billion metric tons of renewable biomass globally every year. Much of this waste is either burnt or discarded indiscriminately, causing serious environmental hazards and contributing to global warming via greenhouse gas emissions. Despite containing valuable nutrients, these residues remain largely underutilised. Corncobs account for a significant share of this total, with over 200 million tons produced annually from maize farming worldwide. Microbial processes offer an eco-friendly route to convert such agricultural waste into valuable bioproducts. Microorganisms produce diverse degradative enzymes capable of breaking down biomass into useful materials. Transforming corncob residues supports key sustainability targets, including clean energy, climate action, and industrial innovation. Emerging biotechnological strategies demonstrate that corncobs can be converted into a new range of biological and nanoscale products, advancing circular bioeconomy goals.
Disposing of vast volumes of agricultural waste through burning damages ecosystems and accelerates climate change. Finding microbial methods to process residues like corncobs prevents pollution and turns discarded plant matter into valuable bio-based and nanoscale materials, directly supporting international goals for climate action, clean energy, and sustainable industrial growth.
The work focuses on enabling microbial routes to convert corncob waste into commercial bioproducts and nanoproducts. Potential users include agricultural processors, biorefineries, and bio-based manufacturing industries looking for sustainable raw materials. Because the review synthesises current research and highlights the need to stimulate further exploratory endeavours, the technology appears to be at an early research and development stage rather than ready for immediate industrial deployment.
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Huge amount of renewable biomass in excess of 140 billion metric tons is generated annually due to agro-industrial activities. The agrowastes are often disposed indiscriminately or burnt off, thereby constituting environmental menace and contribute to global warming through the generation of greenhouse gases. Most frequently, the biomasses despite their richness in nutrients are also not found suitable for deserving applications. Among the agrowastes, generation of corncob occupies a prime position due to large scale cultivation of maize worldwide, as more than 200 million tons of corncobs are produced yearly. In recent times, to achieve environmental sustainability, value-addition to wastes, and promotion of advances in bio- and circular economy, agrowastes are now being investigated for valorization through biotechnological route. The preponderance of microbes with their concomitant production of different varieties of degradative enzymes makes them suitable for bioconversion of agrowastes to viable bioproducts in eco-friendly manner. The valorization of agrowastes is in direct responses to achieving five of the goals of SDG; particularly good health and wellbeing (SDG 3), clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), industry and innovation (SDG 9), and climate action (SDG 13). In this review, we present recent activities on biotechnological valorization of corncob to create new range of bio- and nanoproducts to stimulate more research endeavours in this area.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.eti.2021.102073
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