Strategic planning of bio-based supply chains: Unlocking bottlenecks and incorporating social sustainability into biorefinery systems

The sourcing of renewable bio-resources and their conversion through novel biorefinery technology is being supported by several initiatives and policies worldwide involving the development of a circular bioeconomy. However, further questions remain unanswered such as how the strategic planning of new bio-based supply chains could contribute to sustainability targets given the common oversight for the social dimension in decision-making levels of biorefinery supply chains. Based on a systematic literature review of research papers on biorefineries, bottlenecks associated with the strategic planning of new supply chains from feedstocks originating from land and marine ecosystems were identified, along with the aspects currently representing the social dimension of sustainability. The results outline two main findings. First, the bottlenecks identified and portrayed by grass and seaweed-based supply chains can be summed into the following main categories: bio-resource availability, quality, logistic planning, economic, ecological, and social issues, policy, research and innovation. Second, current research at the strategic decision-making levels of biorefineries is substantially focused on techno-economic aspects. The inclusion of environmental aspects has been increasing with life cycle assessment methodologies in more recent years, while social elements remain widely disregarded. The results further uncover the social dimension, represented by aspects such as employment creation, participation of primary producers, food and energy security, stakeholders' engagement, societal acceptance, effects on local communities, workers' well-being, education, gender equality, cultural values, and potential conflicts. To overcome bottlenecks and incorporate social dimensions, new perspectives and interdisciplinarity are needed to extrapolate the boundaries of analytical frameworks currently adopted by biorefinery research. We suggest framing the planning of new bio-based supply chains within a socio-technical-ecological system to pursue integrated strategies toward more sustainable and socially relevant biorefinery systems.