Limited fossil resources and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions require the development of environmentally benign production processes. Economic, energy and carbon-efficient value chains based on lignocellulosic biomass are essential for a sustainable and potentially CO2-neutral chemical industry. Biomass presents a concentrated renewable carbon source for base and fine chemicals, polymers and liquid fuels of high energy density. Research studies have highlighted the need for novel process concepts to account for the high degree of functionality of lignocellulosic biomass. Major challenges include selective deoxygenation of the highly functionalized starting materials, energy-intensive separation and processes bridging chemo-catalysis, biotechnology and electro-catalysis. In the following, these challenges are exemplarily discussed. The showcases are selected to illustrate concepts and not meant to provide a comprehensive overview of the field.