Value from Food Waste - Anaerobic Digestion and Beyond. Jeff Eaves Industry Manager WasteValor, University of York

Transcription

1 Value from Food Waste - Anaerobic Digestion and Beyond Jeff Eaves Industry Manager WasteValor, University of York

2 Who are we? Top 150 World- and Top10 UK-ranked University Top 5 UK-ranked Chemistry Department Guardian/Independent 2011 Leading Green Chemistry research centre dedicated to creating genuinely sustainable supply chains for chemical and related products international reach 2

3 and biology Prof Simon McQueen-Mason et al; PNAS, vol. 110 no. 25, (2013)

4 Application focus For biorenewables, The University of York brings together internationally recognized excellence in green chemistry and biology and a new team focussed on industrial engagement and multi kg scale development: The Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC) 4

5 Our vision Our long-term vision is to establish an internationally-recognised biorenewables cluster or BioVale centered around York, acting as a magnet for inward investment. Strong agricultural sector Largest foodprocessing cluster in UK + 1,000s of SMEs Internationally recognised R&D base Strong biosciences and chemical industry sector 5

6 Market Potential The Biobased Economy 6

7 Our chemistry core competence Vitaliy Budarin Example: Pretreatment of biomass / food waste to open up cell walls Andy Hunt Examples: Clean solvent extraction sco 2, sc H 2 O. Novel, green, safe bioderived solvents Tom Farmer Example: Synthesis of useful chemicals from plant / food waste sourced platform molecules Avtar Matharu Example: Bioboard where both the matrix and the resin are bio / food waste derived 7

8 Multi kg scale semicontinuous microwave Condenser fractionation of volatiles Hopper feed Screw fed microwave cavity 30 kg per hour Patent application now at national stage

9 The Biorenewables Development Centre 9

10 The WasteValor project Funding: 2M Capital, 0.5M Revenue New Green Chemistry Industrial Engagement Facility 2014 Project focus is entirely on SMEs, in our region We need to help 60 of them to create value from food waste by mid 2015 a contract, not an ambition Farming and hospitality is a no 10

11 Our region 11

12 Food Waste Food Waste has become topical in the UK: News items Economic issues UK Gov t & Industry Initiatives Courtauld Commitment 3 Hospitality & Food Services Agreement Source: Vision 2020, Re:Food 12

13 Food Waste Source: 13

14 Food Waste valorisation Push UK landfill tax Drivers Fiscal per tonne Fiscal per tonne Pull Lower cost and sustainable raw materials UK government initiatives Media 14

15 Anaerobic Digestion - take 1 In the UK, AD currently seen as the solution to landfilling of food waste Vision 2020 UK Mixed Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Bio-Energy 15

16 Anaerobic Digestion Source: Vision 2020, Re:Food

17 Anaerobic Digestion Two Questions for us (scientists): 1) Can we make Anaerobic Digestion better? 2) In addition, can we do better things that complement Anaerobic Digestion?

18 What does University of York science have to offer to AD? + digestate Microwave processing to increase biogas yield Microbe identification for process control (and optimisation?)

19 Increased biogas yield Microwave pre-treatment The University of York s Biorenewables Development Centre and Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence have produced similar results with a crop waste source Source: Beszedes et al; (2010) Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy, Vol.30, No.3, 486

20 Process control & optimization? 30L anaerobic digester dewater feed DNA 30L AD CH4 VFA ph Dr James Chong 4 x 30L AD units GC analysis for VFA Ion Torrent DNA sequencing

21 Process control & optimization? Day 1 Day 25

22 Digestate Depending on your pov, digestate from AD is either a problem or an opportunity There are certainly some issues to be overcome before it becomes a more widely accepted and more valuable product

23 Digestate Issues such as :- Nutrient concentration and therefore value per tonne is low, either it needs to be used close to source or it needs to be concentrated or used in high value markets Whilst it comes with PAS 110 compliance, it doesn t come with a spec sheet in the way a made for purpose fertilizer does variability It smells Scorching effects on turf have been reported There may be lingering concerns over survival of microbes in digestate The University of York is working towards solutions!

24 Anaerobic Digestion take 2 CH 4 CO 2 24

25 Valorisation - some examples Caveat: Anaerobic Digestion works with mixed (food) sources and can handle packaged food logistics to collect the food waste are typically established / being established. AD is here and it s now What I m about to share with you is focused more on single source or segregated food waste. Logistics are typically not established large, single waste sources are therefore favoured. 25

26 Biomaterials Food waste reinforced polymers?

27 Green solvent extraction Spent coffee grounds Making connections with regional SMEs Spent coffee grounds Coffee silverskins Collection Extraction of oils User of oils User of residual grounds Opposite Café Ltd York Coffee Emporium St Nicholas Fields University of York Calder Valley soaps Fungi Futures

28 Microwave processing Citrus Peels Now signed a collaboration agreement as a result of last IGCW

29 Microwave processing Wet orange peel MW assisted steam distillation W Workup D- limonene 2.49 /kg Orange peel residue 1) Soxhlet acetone extraction* Workup Flavonoids up to 27/ mg Orange peel residue 2) MW treatment C Workup Pectin 6.50 /kg * Sub-critical water extraction is being investigated

30 Platform molecules The top 12 bio-based molecules 1,4 succinic, fumaric and malic acids 2,5 furan dicarboxylic acid 3 hydroxy propionic acid aspartic acid glucaric acid glutamic acid itaconic acid levulinic acid 3-hydroxybutyrolactone glycerol sorbitol xylitol/arabinitol 30

31 Succinic acid why, who, how? Why? Who? Myriant, BioAmber, BASF- Purac (Succinity), and Reverdia (DSM-Roquette) How? By fermentation Key applications include polybutylene succinate (PBS); polyester polyols for polyurethanes, coating and composite resins; phthalate-free plasticizers, and 1,4 butanediol. End products include footwear, packaging and paints Bio-succinic acid represents a $7.5 billion market as a replacement of current succinic acid applications; butanediol drop-in applications; and replacements for adipic and phthalic acid Source:

32 Succinic acid food waste? Hong Kong, Carol Lin et al Green Chemistry / Biology Enzymatic Hydrolysis Microbial fermentation The York connection: Green Chemistry MW pre-treatment to increase sugar yields Clean synthesis from succinic acid including the use of Starbons to catalyse esterification and hydrogenation 32

33 CMF 5-(Chloromethyl)furfural Why? FDCA polyesters (plastic bottles, textile fibres) RMF, MF drop in biofuel candidates Mark Mascal et al; ChemSusChem 2009, 2,

34 CMF 5-(Chloromethyl)furfural How? (University of York) Cellulose Fructose Glucose Corn Stover Other carbohydrate rich food waste? Simple and low tech Relatively undemanding for process control compared to fermentation BUT: works best with a chlorinated solvent, product is chlorinated J. H. Clark, T. J. Farmer, et al; Green Chem 2013, 15, 72 Mark Mascal et al; ChemSusChem 2009, 2,

35 Clean, bio-derived solvents Cyrene is a dipolar aprotic solvent manufactured from renewable cellulose by Circa Cyrene was developed in conjunction with University of York s Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence Cyrene has successfully undergone initial testing across a range of generic solvent reactions indicating it could be a viable alternative to NMP (N-Methyl-2- pyrrolidone) a solvent widely used in industry e.g. agrochemical formulations An Ames mini-screen test for potential mutagenicity has been completed with no mutagenicity observed. Source:

36 Starbons Starting materials can include starch present in waste food, e.g. -Potato peelings -Waste maize (corn) starch -Waste grain or wheat starch -Pectin from orange peel

37 Commercial applications Recovery of precious metals from waste streams through reductive adsorption (Starbon R Series) Purification, in particular removal of harmful organics and heavy metals to purify water and clean up waste streams (Starbon P Series) Separation of complex mixtures for production and analysis with Starbon as the stationary phase in chromatographic systems (Starbon S Series) Catalysis of bio-refinery downstream processes including esterification reactions in aqueous systems (Starbon C Series)

38 Knowledge sharing TD1203 Food waste valorisation for sustainable chemicals, materials and fuels (EUBIS) COST Actions are science and technology networks for researchers and stakeholders to create, diffuse and apply knowledge through a range of networking and dissemination tools. Working Group 1: Pre-treatment and extraction Working Group 2: Bioprocessing Working Group 3: Chemical processing Working Group 4: Technical and sustainability analysis/policy analysis In first 6 months 30 EU countries 160 researchers Budding international links

39 Food Waste FUNCTIONAL FOODS E.G. PUFAs PLATFORM CHEMICALS FEED MICROORGANISMS EXTRACT CHEMICALS Source: 39

40 Acknowledgements Thanks to (without limitation) the following: Tom Dugmore James Clark Yvette Hancock Tom Farmer Avtar Matharu Vitaliy Budarin Andrew Hunt Lucie Pfaltzgraff Mark Gronnow Fabien Deswarte James Chong Joe Ross Tony Harrison Mario de Bruyn Jo Parkes Energy Environ. Sci., 2013, 6, 426 Katie Privett Katy Holiday