Today, process industry operations for downstream processing represent on average 50-60% of the total capital (CAPEX) and operating costs (OPEX) and they account for up to 45% of the process energy in industrial operations. These high costs for downstream processing are often linked to the inefficiencies in the upstream process, due to low conversion and formation of co-products, by-products and/or impurities. Hybrid processing technologies (including chemical and biochemical steps) can provide major advantages in terms of primary process selectivity and sustainability. However, they have not been widely deployed in industry so far. The development of novel technologies for upstream and downstream unit operations, as well as their better integration, could provide significant resource and energy efficiency gains.