Agro-Industrial Residues in Brazil: A Review on Availability Data, Processing Routes and Technological Challenges for Biorefineries Deployment

Brazil ranks among the world’s largest agricultural producers, generating substantial agro-industrial residues with significant potential for valorization in biorefinery systems. Comprehensive, updated data on the characterization, availability, and spatial distribution of major crops and their residues are essential for biomass conversion system design but remain lacking in the literature. This study presents a five-part contribution. First, a literature review mapped 534 articles, of which 91 were selected for full-text reading and 37 were retained in the final quantitative synthesis, to assess the generation, location, and availability of Brazil’s main agro-industrial residues and reveal research gaps and trends. Crop production rate was the most frequently reported variable, followed by energy generation potential and residue-to-product ratios; most studies addressed bioenergy applications, while economic and environmental aspects were rarely covered. Second, updated 2023 data estimated from 734.57 to 1168.64 million metric tons of agro-industrial residues generated in Brazil. Third, the work reviewed biomass processing routes, covering upstream (pretreatment and conversion) and downstream stages. Fourth, product yield data were compiled for the residues of seven of the eight assessed crops, standardized per 100 g of dry biomass, enabling cross-feedstock and cross-route comparisons not previously available in a consolidated dataset. Fifth, the study maps Brazilian bioenergy policy instruments against the governance dimensions required for coordinated biorefinery deployment, identifying fragmentation across ministries and priority recommendations for policy action. Although grounded in the Brazilian context, the methodological framework and yield dataset are transferable to other biomass-producing regions, supporting residue-based biorefinery design at different scales.