Conventional plastics are produced from fossil fuels, which negatively impacts the environment and contributes to climate change. This reliance on finite resources is unsustainable.
The AGRIMAX project has developed a sustainable alternative by extracting ferulic acid from wheat bran, a by-product of cereal processing. Ferulic acid is a biopolymer with a chemical structure similar to the main component of PET plastic. This innovative process, demonstrated in a purpose-built biorefinery, creates bio-based additives for biodegradable plastics, offering a direct replacement for fossil fuel-derived components.
The use of ferulic acid from agricultural waste can create biodegradable and sustainable packaging. This innovation opens new market opportunities for plastic and packaging producers and could confer additional beneficial properties, such as antioxidant characteristics, to the materials. It supports the transition to a green circular economy by valorising agricultural side-streams and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
Wheat is a major cereal crop in Ireland, with approximately 60,000 hectares planted annually. The majority of this wheat is used for animal feed. Utilising the waste from cereal processing to create high-value bioplastic additives presents a significant opportunity for farm income diversification and waste reduction. This aligns with national strategies such as the Bioeconomy Action Plan and the National Strategy for Horticulture. In 2022, Ireland imported US$4.42 billion worth of plastics, highlighting the potential to reduce this dependency by developing a domestic market for sustainable, bio-based products.
This innovation presents an opportunity for farmers, as the primary producers, to find new, high-value markets for agricultural by-products that would otherwise be considered low-value waste. By supplying cereal processing waste to biorefineries, farmers can play a crucial role in the circular bioeconomy, generating additional income streams and contributing to a more sustainable agricultural sector.
Find out more about this innovation by contacting Leo on leo@erinn.eu.
A fact sheet on the potential valorisation opportunities of cereal waste can be found here. The extraction process for Ferulic Acid from Wheat processing is described in deliverable 1.2 of the AgriMax project, focusing on the specifications of the waste processing & derived biocompounds, and can be found here. The process is under patent.
