By-product
A by-product or byproduct is a secondary product derived from a production process, manufacturing process or chemical reaction; it is not the primary product or service being produced.
A by-product can be useful and marketable or it can be considered waste: for example, bran, which is a byproduct of the milling of wheat into refined flour, is sometimes composted or burned for disposal, but in other cases, it can be used as a nutritious ingredient in human food or animal feed. Gasoline was once a byproduct of oil refining that later became a desirable commodity as motor fuel. The plastic used in plastic shopping bags also started as a by-product of oil refining.[1] By-products are sometimes called co-products to indicate that although they are secondary, they are desired products. For example, hides and leather may be called co-products of beef production. There is no strict distinction between by-products and co-products.
In economics
In the context of production, a by-product is the "output from a
The
In chemistry
While some chemists treat "by-product" and "side-product" as synonyms in the above sense of a generic secondary (untargeted) product, others find it useful to distinguish between the two. When the two terms are distinguished, "by-product" is used to refer to a product that is not desired but inevitably results from molecular fragments of starting materials and/or
Common byproducts
- bagasse and molasses from sugar production
- bran and germ from flour milling
- buttermilk from butter production
- distillers grains from ethanol production
- fly ash and bottom ashfrom coal combustion
- glycerol from soap or biodiesel production
- lanolin from wool processing
- lees from wine fermentation
- pomace from fruit juice or olive oil production
- saw dustfrom lumber production
- slag from smelting ore
- straw from grain harvesting
- trub from beer fermentation
- vinasse from sugar or ethanol production
- whey from cheese production
See also
- Main product
- By-product synergy
- Circular economy
- Side reaction
References
- ^
Muthu, Subramanian Senthilkannan; Li, Yi (2013). "Manufacturing Processes of Grocery Shopping Bags". Assessment of Environmental Impact by Grocery Shopping Bags: An Eco-Functional Approach. Environmental Issues in Logistics and Manufacturing. Singapore: Springer Science & Business Media. p. 7. ISBN 9789814560207. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
Plastic is obtained as a by-product from the oil refining process [...]
- ^ Wouters, Mark; Selto, Frank H.; Hilton, Ronald W.; Maher, Michael W. (2012): Cost Management: Strategies for Business Decisions, International Edition, McGraw-Hill, p. 535.
- ^ World Trade Organization (2004): United States – Final dumping determination on softwood lumber from Canada, WT/DS264/AB/R, 11 August 2004.
- ^ "BIOMITRE Technical Manual, Horne, R. E. and Matthews, R., November 2004" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
- .