Production of high-added value compounds from biomass

As widely considered within the development agendas for the near future, it is a priority to guarantee sustainable progress that mitigates the adverse influence of an increasing world population. Therefore, there is a need for strengthening an economy that harnesses renewable raw materials to be transformed into more valuable assets than food (e.g., energy, commodities and fine chemicals). From this perspective, the biorefinery concept provides a technological platform for renewable raw material fractionation, transformations, and purification, as an alternative to the conventional petrochemical refinery that reduces our dependency on fossil feedstock. Accounting for the increasing need for fine chemicals and the development of new materials, this chapter aims to give an overview of high-value components which have been obtained from biomass and their relevance within a growing bioeconomy.