Valorisation of plant-based waste agricultural biomass to produce circular biodegradable materials including seed coatings

植物基废弃农业生物质的增值生产循环可生物降解材料，包括种子包衣

• 批准号: 77568
• 金额: $ 7.64万
• 依托单位: XAMPLA LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Small Business Research Initiative
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=77568
• 关键词: Valorisation; plant; based; waste; agricultural

Globally, agriculture generates 140billion tonnes/year of biomass waste, equivalent in terms of energy and raw materials to c50billion tonnes of crude oil(UNEP\_2009). Crop residues comprise inedible parts of biomass, such as empty pods, leaves, and stems. Large amounts of crop residues are left on the field after crop harvest and ploughed back into the soil to increase the organic matter content, acting as a natural fertiliser. Leguminous crop residue waste not needed to fertilise the soil may also be used as animal feed or (last resort) disposed of as waste (via incineration or landfill). However, interest is growing in the potential to valorise leguminous crop residues not needed to fertilise the soil, by extracting nutrients such as proteins(Tassoni\_et\_al\_2020). The UK legume market is dominated by faba (broad) beans (mainly for animal feed) and field peas (mainly for human consumption), with respective crop production volumes(2017) of c780,000tonnes and c160,000tonnes(LegValue\_2019). Beans and peas are typically harvested and deshelled in the field. Since bean crop residues account for c45% of the total crop biomass (Amalfitano\_et\_al\_2018), we estimate that UK faba bean production currently creates over 638,000tonnes/year of crop residues. The protein contents of faba bean and pea crop residues have been estimated at c13%(Karlsson\_et\_al\_2015) and c18%(Tassoni\_et\_al\_2020), respectively; therefore, we estimate that valorisation of UK faba bean and pea crop residues could theoretically provide 100,000+ tonnes/year of plant protein. Across Europe, it is estimated that 3million tonnes of legume waste are produced each year(LEGUVAL\_2016), potentially providing c450,000tonnes/year of plant protein. Xampla's ambition is to valorise this plant protein to produce a new and innovative class of high-performance materials, Supramolecular Engineered Protein(SEP), which can be used as a bio-based/biodegradable material replacement for microplastics and single-use plastics. As a demonstrator, we will develop bio-based/biodegradable SEP seed coatings as a replacement for conventional non-biodegradable fossil fuel-based seed coatings. Seed coatings are a small-volume but high-value market; however, they make an ideal primary market, since agrochemical suppliers are actively looking for sustainable biodegradable solutions to meet the proposed EU ban(by 2026) on intentionally added microplastics including seed coatings(ECHA\_2020). Secondary markets include replacing conventional plastics in existing global markets such as food-packaging films/coatings, while also creating new market opportunities, including the use of SEP material as an edible coating for fresh produce to extend shelf-life and reduce post-farm gate food waste. Helping UK farmers and the agricultural sector recover sustainably from COVID-19; delivering on Clean Growth and net zero.

在全球范围内，农业每年产生1400亿吨生物质废物，在能源和原材料方面相当于500亿吨原油(环境署2009年)。作物残渣包括不能食用的生物质部分，如空荚、叶和茎。作物收获后，大量的作物残渣被留在田里，并被犁回土壤中，以增加有机质含量，起到天然肥料的作用。不需要为土壤施肥的豆科作物残渣也可用作动物饲料或(最后手段)作为废物处置(通过焚烧或填埋)。然而，人们对通过提取蛋白质等营养物质来使土壤肥沃所不需要的豆科作物残留物作价的潜力越来越感兴趣(Tassoni Et Al 2020)。英国豆类市场主要由蚕豆(主要用于动物饲料)和大田豌豆(主要用于人类消费)主导，2017年的作物产量分别为780,000吨和160,000吨(LegValue 2019)。豆子和豌豆通常在田里收获并去壳。由于豆类作物残留物占作物总生物量的45%(AMalfitano等2018)，我们估计英国蚕豆生产目前每年产生超过638,000吨作物残留物。蚕豆和豌豆作物残渣的蛋白质含量估计分别为c13%(Karlsson Et Al 2015)和c18%(Tassoni Et Al 2020)；因此，我们估计英国蚕豆和豌豆作物残渣理论上可以提供10万+吨/年的植物蛋白。在整个欧洲，估计每年产生300万吨豆类废物(LEGUVAL-2016)，可能提供C450,000吨/年的植物蛋白。Xanta的雄心是使这种植物蛋白失效，以生产一种新型的高性能材料--超分子工程蛋白(SEP)，该材料可用作微塑料和一次性塑料的生物基/生物可降解材料的替代品。作为示范，我们将开发基于生物的/可生物降解的SEP种子涂料，作为传统的不可生物降解的化石燃料种子涂料的替代品。种衣剂是一个小批量但高价值的市场；然而，它们是一个理想的初级市场，因为农用化学品供应商正在积极寻找可持续的可生物降解解决方案，以满足欧盟对包括种衣剂在内的故意添加的微塑料的拟议禁令(ECHA 2020)。二级市场包括在食品包装薄膜/涂层等现有全球市场取代传统塑料，同时也创造新的市场机会，包括使用SEP材料作为新鲜农产品的可食用涂层，以延长货架寿命并减少农场大门后的食物浪费。帮助英国农民和农业部门可持续地从新冠肺炎中复苏；实现清洁增长和净零增长。