In Europe alone, the harvesting and processing of potatoes creates three million tonnes of skins, 800 kilo tonnes of pulp and four million cubic metres of potato juice each year. The residues and by-products can be used to develop innovative bio-based products.
The AgriMax project built a flexible, multi-feedstock pilot plant in the North of Spain to develop a variety of products from potato wastes and by-products to valorise agricultural side-streams would otherwise be wasted.
The innovative approach meant that 33-53% of potato (pulp and peel) can be valorised, with the capacity to process at least 500 litres of potato by-products per hour. The potato residues can be broken down using ultrasound and proteins are extracted from potato juice by a series of solid-liquid separation steps.
Agricultural waste from potato and oat side streams were used to create Microfibrillated Cellulose Fibres (MCF) which created high-barrier, rigid and flexible packaging which were suitable for use in the food industry and for food applications such as trays, pots, pouches and films.
The use of agricultural waste to produce commercial biobased plastic could reduce the need for deforestation caused by MCF production from wood pulp, and contribute to circularity through waste valorisation.
MCF can be exploited and tweaked to make formulations or blends with other biopolymers and open new market opportunities for biodegradable plastic/packaging producers and end-users, with farmers as the primary producers.
Find out more about this innovation by contacting Leo on leo@erinn.eu.
