The bioeconomy concept aims to add sustainability to the production, transformation, and trade of biological goods. Though implemented around the world, the development of national bioeconomies is uneven, especially in the global South, where major challenges exist in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this context, the international BiomassWeb project aimed to underpin the bioeconomy concept by applying the value web approach, which seeks to uncover complex interlinked value webs instead of linear value chains. The project also aimed to develop intervention options to strengthen and optimize the synergies and trade-offs among different value chains. The Special Issue “Advances in Food and Non-Food Biomass Production, Processing and Use in Sub-Saharan Africa: Toward a Basis for a Regional Bioeconomy"" compiles 23 articles produced in this framework. The articles are grouped in four sections: the value web approach; the production side; processing, transformation and trade; and global views.

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Thermochemical conversion processes convert biomass into gaseous, liquid and solid products named, syngas, bio-oil and char, respectively. Syngas and bio-oil are considered as alternative biofuels to fossil fuels and wide investigations are implemented currently on their production, purification, modification, and applications. Biomass chars have receiving an increasing attention since they lead to carbon sequestration, reduction of the amount of carbon rejected into the atmosphere and represent an friendly carbon source for numerous applications. In particular, biomass chars could be an efficient materials for energy production, syngas production and upgrading, water and air pollutants removal, soil amendment, fuel cells and supercapacitors development, and gas storage. Improving the knowledge of biomass chars elaboration techniques such as pyrolysis, gasification and hydrothermal carbonization is essential to determine the optimal production strategies for their economic viability. Furthermore, the characterization of the physicochemical, textural, structural and surface chemistry properties of the derived chars guide the selection of the suitable recovery processes in order to maximize their utility and therefore the benefits for the environment as well as for industries and agriculture.

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Carotenoids are a group of natural pigments, consisting of more than 750 compounds. They are mostly yellow, orange, or red in color, due to the system of conjugated double bonds. This structural element is also responsible for the good antioxidant properties of many carotenoids. Carotenoids have shown numerous biological activities (not only as provitamin A), e.g., preventive properties of fruits and vegetables. As lipophilic compounds, their uptake and storage in the body are dependent on various conditions. In vitro and in vivo data showed stimulating and inhibitory effects of matrix compounds on bioaccessibility and bioavailability of carotenoids.

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Soil degradation is one of the most topical environmental threats. A number of processes causing soil degradation, specifically erosion, compaction, salinization, pollution, and loss of both organic matter and soil biodiversity, are also strictly connected to agricultural activity and its intensification. The development and adoption of sustainable agronomic practices able to preserve and enhance the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils and improve agroecosystem functions is a challenge for both scientists and farmers. The Special Issue entitled “Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation” collects 12 original contributions addressing the state of the art of sustainable agriculture and soil conservation. The papers cover a wide range of topics, including organic agriculture, soil amendment and soil organic carbon (SOC) management, the impact of SOC on soil water repellency, the effects of soil tillage on the quantity of SOC associated with several fractions of soil particles and depth, and SOC prediction, using visible and near-infrared spectra and multivariate modeling. Moreover, the effects of some soil contaminants (e.g., crude oil, tungsten, copper, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are discussed or reviewed in light of the recent literature. The collection of the manuscripts presented in this Special Issue provides a relevant knowledge contribution for improving our understanding on sustainable agriculture and soil conservation, thus stimulating new views on this main topic.

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The papers published in this Special Issue report on recent studies investigating the exploitation of by-products produced by the food industry. The topics investigated include the extraction setups used for valuable food waste by-products and their applications as adjuncts to food preparation; the appropriate selection of solvents and extraction processes; and the interactions between extracted fractions and supplementary foods. The papers evaluate a wide variety of foodstuffs and provide results regarding the extension their shelf-lives and activities as functional foods.

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The focus of this Special Issue was on biomass ash valorization with respect to their potential for various material applications. Most of the publications in this Special Issue focused on the production of biogenic silica with different properties. Additionally, some of the publications considered application of biomass ashes and biochar as a fertilizer, for soil amendment and recovery of ash forming elements such as N and P, as well as the application of biomass feedstocks in biofuel production.Accordingly, ashes produced from the thermochemical conversion of agricultural residues have high potential to be utilized for different material applications. However, local availability, as well as scaling up the process and life-cycle assessment should be considered prior to the utilization of these materials. Furthermore, densification as a mechanical pre-treatment can be crucial to improve the fuel properties, while purification of some of the ash forming elements, such as calcium, potassium, and prosperous should also not be disregarded in future investigations.

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