TY - JOUR

T1 - Utilizing Grass for the Biological Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) via Green Biorefining: Material and Energy Flows

AU - Patterson, Tim

AU - Massanet-Nicolau, Jaime

AU - Jones, Rhys Jon

AU - Boldrin, Alessio

AU - Valentino, Francesco

AU - Dinsdale, Richard

AU - Guwy, Alan

PY - 2020/10/3

Y1 - 2020/10/3

N2 - The meat and dairy industry across Europe is dependent on the production of grass. However, faced with competing pressures to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, a potential future reduction of meat and dairy consumption in western diets, and pressure to minimize food production costs, grass could be used to produce alternative products. The biological production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) by using grass as the primary carbon source in a novel mixed culture process has been studied. A total of 30,000 t of fresh grass would yield approximately 403.65 t of dried biopolymer granules. On the basis of this early stage, non-optimized process, the cumulative energy demand (CED) of PHA produced from waste grass and cultivated grass was found to be 248.4 MJ/kg and 271.8 MJ/kg, respectively, which is the same order of magnitude as fossil-carbon-based polymers. Improvements in volatile fatty acid yields, reduction in chemical and water inputs, and using residues to make other products will reduce the CED. Given the future requirement to produce polymers with little or no fossil-carbon feedstock, an optimized version of the process could provide a viable future production option that also contributes to the long-term sustainability of agricultural communities.

AB - The meat and dairy industry across Europe is dependent on the production of grass. However, faced with competing pressures to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, a potential future reduction of meat and dairy consumption in western diets, and pressure to minimize food production costs, grass could be used to produce alternative products. The biological production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) by using grass as the primary carbon source in a novel mixed culture process has been studied. A total of 30,000 t of fresh grass would yield approximately 403.65 t of dried biopolymer granules. On the basis of this early stage, non-optimized process, the cumulative energy demand (CED) of PHA produced from waste grass and cultivated grass was found to be 248.4 MJ/kg and 271.8 MJ/kg, respectively, which is the same order of magnitude as fossil-carbon-based polymers. Improvements in volatile fatty acid yields, reduction in chemical and water inputs, and using residues to make other products will reduce the CED. Given the future requirement to produce polymers with little or no fossil-carbon feedstock, an optimized version of the process could provide a viable future production option that also contributes to the long-term sustainability of agricultural communities.

KW - Grass

KW - Biorefining

KW - Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA)

KW - Systems Analysis

KW - Industrial Ecology

U2 - 10.1111/jiec.13071

DO - 10.1111/jiec.13071

M3 - Article

JO - Journal of Industrial Ecology

JF - Journal of Industrial Ecology

SN - 1530-9290

M1 - JIEC13071

ER -