14 DAY TRIAL // It is a well-known fact that the expansion of urban society also brought about ever-increasing amounts of food waste, especially given the fact that a relatively large number of people decided to go in the business of opening up coffee chops, fast foods, restaurants, and the like.
However, researcher Carol S. K. Lin, Ph.D, now argues that thanks to a biorefinery technique she recently developed, Starbucks bakery, together with the coffee sold here, could be successfully used to produce consumer goods such as plastics, laundry detergents and similar items.
The scientist, who is presently working with the City University, presented her findings during the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Thus, Carol S. K. Lin explained how this innovative biorefinery procedure could yield significant benefits, both from a financial and from an environmental standpoint.
More so since, as opposed to other biorefinery procedures presently available, her technology does not require that grains be used as raw material, but that the food waste which would otherwise get thrown out is put to better use.
The Scientific American informs us that Carol S. K. Lin made a case of how, “Using corn and other food crops for bio-based fuels and other products may not be sustainable in the long-run. Concerns exist that this approach may increase food prices and contribute to food shortages in some areas of the world.”
Therefore, “Using waste food as the raw material in a biorefinery certainly would be an effective alternative.”
Just in case you were wondering, this new biorefinery technique works as follows: fungi are used to break down the carbohydrates found in various bakery goods, and turn the waste food into simple sugars.
From this moment on, bacteria are used to make succinic acid from said sugars. Once the succinic acid is obtained, the job is pretty much done as this is the chemical compound which stands at the basis of various consumer goods.
Hopefully, this innovative technology will soon make its way out of the laboratory and begin being used on a larger scale.