Abstract
In recent years, there has been a great deal of discussion about the vision of the bieoconomy at regional, national and international levels. This discussion has involved many in the scientific community, including Waste Management & Research, which has published several editorials and original manuscripts on this subject.
This increasing attention to the bioeconomy stems from growing global interest in major energy and materials transition processes, such as circular economy and the energy transition, among others. The term energy transition relates to the envisaged change in the structures of national energy systems, not only in terms of an increased share of renewable resources, but also through the introduction of energy-saving measures and decentralised energy generation networks that allow an overall enhancement of the overall system’s efficiency. One common point of all these processes is their aim to attain sustainable use of the Earth’s finite resources.
In the bioeconomy field, the challenge is, therefore, to find room for the next wave of innovations that can boost technologies, products and services out of the available purpose-grown and waste-sourced biomass to support the establishment of a more sustainable society. This challenge is a particularly tricky one, considering that although the term ‘bioeconomy’ is relatively new, the basis of the bioeconomy is already in place, and it is formed by the already existing, traditional industries and sectors, such as (among others) agricultural and forestry sectors, as well as the food processing and pulp and paper industries.
However, the bioeconomy field is not limited to the traditional raw materials (e.g. wood or agricultural residues). It includes also new promising raw materials, such as bacteria and fungi. The goal of introducing them is clear: To diversify the feedstock basis for the bioeconomy and thus to establish an overall production system that is far superior to today’s and is at the same time sustainable.
Expectations management: Substituting the oil-based economy completely? Not really …
The bioeconomy is based on the functions and circuits found in nature. The basis of all life on Earth is the conversion of light into a variety of energetic carbon carriers and their conversion back into CO2 and water. In the global carbon cycle, 110 to 120 billion tonnes of CO2 are annually bound by vegetative photosynthesis, stored in biomass, harvested and mostly consumed and then decomposed away from the original point of plant growth. Such a sustainable cycle is limited by two factors: (i) plants convert the energy of sunlight only with an efficiency of 1%–2% into carbon carriers; and (ii) this reaction is essentially limited to the surfaces of the Earth where the sun shines and sufficient water is available.
Around 60 billion tonnes of biomass (measured as dry matter) are produced each year in forests, fields, grasslands, steppes, riversides, gardens, parks and floodplains. Roughly one-quarter of this growing biomass is already used by humans as foodstuffs, feedstuffs, building materials and raw materials for chemicals and industry. An expansion of cultivation areas for additional supply to the bioeconomy is not likely viable without causing further negative effects on climate and resource/environmental protection, that is, an increase of CO2 emissions, as well as accelerating forestry erosion or soil erosion. That is why biomass alone cannot replace fossil fuels in the world economies.
One example is the use of biomass for energy production. Studies project a potential consumption of 1000 to 1500 kg of biomass (dry weight) per inhabitant per year, considering for this matter the residues from the wood and the food processing sectors. With this availability, only about 10% of the expected energy demand per capita in Germany (and Europe) could be covered by biomass resources. The limitations show clearly that, for the intended transformation of the resource base, innovations in many fields are necessary.
New production networks: Intersectoral cooperation on a regional level
In the industrial sector, bioeconomy can be much more than just substituting for fossil fuel feedstocks. The focus must be on high value-added, innovative applications. For instance, the development of low cost technologies that enable multiple uses of the material streams, as well as their optimal recycling at the end of their life cycle, is of great importance for climate protection and resource protection. The chance, but also the challenge, for the bioeconomy is its multisectoral design, for which the integration of different industries is needed. Such integration is necessary to enable the implementation of regional networks with multiple outputs that optimise the utilisation of the available biomass resources. The associated challenge in this regard will be to foster innovative processes and dynamic services that enable this integration in a regionally tailor-made way, as this innovation process must be driven by society and policy makers, and above all must be market driven to ensure its success.
Innovation in biotechnologies: The knowledge-based economy
Additionally, there is a huge and dynamic field of innovative biotechnology processes, transforming renewable raw materials – especially starch, sugar, cellulose, oils and fats with the help of biocatalysis – to enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, chemicals, lubricants or plastics. Not only can products with better properties can be created, compared with many existing chemical processes that require fossil raw materials, high temperatures and pressure, but a significant reduction can be achieved in terms of resources and energy consumption as well as in overall CO2 emissions. In some markets those applications are already important. In medicine, for example, bio-based innovations play an important role today, as nearly half of all currently available drugs are mostly bio-technically derived from cell cultures. However, there is still a long way to go in the biotechnology innovation, as recent studies point out that from the more than one hundred million different organisms living on Earth, only 1% of these species are known today.
Bioeconomy and waste management
Of course, the main question for this editorial is ‘what do these innovations in the bioeconomy field mean for the waste management sectors, and in particular to the sectors and activities covered by Waste Management & Research?’ The answer to that question is actually very simple. Bioeconomy is deeply rooted and associated with the cleaner production and circular economy concepts, for which there are many interactions.
In the particular case of fostering the use of micro-organisms to supply the bioeconomy, as being addressed here, there are certainly several promising solutions for the supply of sustainable materials, recycling and environmental protection in a wide variety of arenas.
In the eco-design phase, i.e. in the early phases of product development, there is the availability of new materials to be used in product development. For example, in the production of innovative wood-based materials, where new resins and adhesives are being produced to be combined with thermo-mechanical wood processing to achieve light but highly tear- and pressure-resistant materials that can revolutionise the construction sector. Such materials will have an impact in our working field as well, as their introduction will influence the material cycles within urban and industrial systems, by expanding the life cycles of the materials and by making them available for recycling upon reaching their end-of-life.
In the recycling sector there are also new developments that are coming from the bioeconomy field. For example, with the help of new enzymes, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can be decomposed into its starting base material without loss of quality. If this biotechnological process were applied broadly, nearly 100% PET recycling could be possible. Nowadays, PET recycling can only be partially achieved, and most of the time in products of poorer quality (noticeable exception: PET used to produce good quality (and relatively expensive) outdoor clothing).
In the fields of hazardous substances prevention as well as in hazardous waste management there are also examples. One of them is the production of bio-based detergents produced from, for example, enzymes extracted from lipases and cellulases. The further introduction of these bio-based detergents will help reduce the use and in time replace halogenated compounds in commonly used consumer products (e.g. household laundry detergents, dishwashing products, hard surface cleaners, leather and fabric cleaning and care), thus enabling a drastic reduction in negative environmental consequences associated to these compounds in the waste stream.
In the cleaner production field, bacteria can be used to harden sand to form bricks, thus avoiding the energy-intensive burning steps associated with traditional brick making processes. In this case, innovations from the bioeconomy field can be used to reduce the negative environmental footprint of traditionally energy intensive industries.
Needless to say, there is a long path to reach a meaningful implementation of these measures to achieve the benefits of a bioeconomy. To this end, Waste Management & Research invites scientists and practitioners to submit manuscripts focusing on new developments and practical implementations of using wastes as a source of materials for bio-based technologies, with the ultimate aim of establishing a sustainable bio-based economy.
