Process Development for the Production of Natural Polymers from Residues of the Agricultural Industry
(2025) KETM05 20251Chemical Engineering (M.Sc.Eng.)
- Abstract
- In recent years, concerns about the damaging environmental effects of conventional plastics have surged, by which biobased and biodegradable plastics have been promoted as a favour-able alternative. Agricultural side streams have been proposed as a potential feedstock for extracting components for new compostable polymers. The present study investigates agri-cultural side streams for raw material alternatives for biodegradable plastic, including devel-oping a suitable production process and optimising the extraction step on a scale. The work involved a comparative analysis of promising agricultural side streams based on volume, biopolymer concentration and biopolymer price, by which byproducts A and B were con-cluded for laboratory... (More)
- In recent years, concerns about the damaging environmental effects of conventional plastics have surged, by which biobased and biodegradable plastics have been promoted as a favour-able alternative. Agricultural side streams have been proposed as a potential feedstock for extracting components for new compostable polymers. The present study investigates agri-cultural side streams for raw material alternatives for biodegradable plastic, including devel-oping a suitable production process and optimising the extraction step on a scale. The work involved a comparative analysis of promising agricultural side streams based on volume, biopolymer concentration and biopolymer price, by which byproducts A and B were con-cluded for laboratory research. A composition analysis was conducted on byproducts A and B. The laboratory research comprised of selecting various pretreatment options: defatting, water-washing, acid treatment, alkaline treatment and grinding.
A design of experiment was conducted to determine the optimal extraction conditions for extraction yield, protein yield, the yield of hydrophobic amino acid and film-formation con-sidering the design factors: solvent concentration (%w/w), liquid-to-solid (L/S)-ratio (w/w), temperature (°C), and extraction time (min). The study found that the optimal conditions of extraction yield for byproduct A, was found to be at 57.4% solvent concentration, 55.0 °C, 2:1 and 38.8 min, obtaining 10.5%. For byproduct B, the parametric optimal of the extraction was found to be at 40% solvent concentration, 59.8 °C, 4:1 and 25.7 min, obtaining 19.7% of extraction yield, 25.7% of protein yield, 61.1% of yield of hydrophobic AA and a film-formation value of 2.0. Given the more promising results for byproduct B, research should further investigate the quality enhancement by including additives and material application. Furthermore, conducting a detailed cost analysis would be crucial to assess the economic feasibility of scaling-up. (Less) - Popular Abstract (Swedish)
- Under de senaste åren har den ökande oro för de miljöförödande konsekvenserna av konvent-ionell plast lett till ett ökat intresse för biobaserade och biologiskt nedbrytningsbara plaster. Som förnybara råvaror för dessa plaster har jordbruksbiprodukter framlagts som en lovande källa. Denna studie undersöker olika jordbruksbiprodukter som potentiella råmaterial för biologiskt nedbrytbar plats. Detta arbete omfattar att utveckla en lämplig produktionsprocess och optimera extraktionssteg på laboratorieskala.
En jämförande analys baserat på volym, biopolymerkoncentration och pris, där biprodukt A och B valdes för en laborativ studie. En sammansättningsanalys genomfördes externt för att verifiera data från en tidigare litteraturstudie. Arbetet... (More) - Under de senaste åren har den ökande oro för de miljöförödande konsekvenserna av konvent-ionell plast lett till ett ökat intresse för biobaserade och biologiskt nedbrytningsbara plaster. Som förnybara råvaror för dessa plaster har jordbruksbiprodukter framlagts som en lovande källa. Denna studie undersöker olika jordbruksbiprodukter som potentiella råmaterial för biologiskt nedbrytbar plats. Detta arbete omfattar att utveckla en lämplig produktionsprocess och optimera extraktionssteg på laboratorieskala.
En jämförande analys baserat på volym, biopolymerkoncentration och pris, där biprodukt A och B valdes för en laborativ studie. En sammansättningsanalys genomfördes externt för att verifiera data från en tidigare litteraturstudie. Arbetet försatte med att undersökta olika för-handlingsmetoder, inklusive avfettning, vattentvätt, syra- och alkalisk behandling samt mal-ning, främst med hänsyn till utbyte, renhet och filmbildningskapacitet.
En experimentell design användes för att optimera extraktionsutbytet, proteinutbytet, utbyte av hydrofoba aminosyror samt filmbildning baserat på lösningsmedelskoncentration (%), väska till substans L/S-viktförhållandet, temperatur (°C), och extraktionstid(min). De opti-mala extraktionsförhållandena för biprodukt A fastställdes till 57,4 % lösningsmedelskon-centration, 55 °C, ett L/S-förhållande på 2:1 och en extraktionstid på 38,75 min, vilket gav ett utbyte på 10,50 %. För biprodukt B fastställdes optimala förhållanden till 40 % lösnings-medelskoncentration, 59,8 °C, ett L/S-förhållande på 4:1 och en extraktionstid på 25,66 mi-nuter. Detta resulterade i ett extraktionsutbyte på 19,71 %, ett proteinutbyte på 25,68 %, ett utbyte av hydrofoba aminosyror på 61,1 % samt ett filmbildningsvärde på 2,04.
Utifrån det lovande resultatet för biprodukt B rekommenderades för framtida studier att för-bättra materialkvaliteten genom att inkludera plasttillsatser. Utöver det bör en ekonomisk analys genomföras för att undersöka genomförbarheten på stor skala. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9198342
- author
- Wolfe, Sarah Elisabeth LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- KETM05 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Biodegradable plastic, Extraction, Process, Development, Chemical engineering
- language
- English
- id
- 9198342
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-19 09:00:42
- date last changed
- 2025-06-19 09:00:42
@misc{9198342,
abstract = {{In recent years, concerns about the damaging environmental effects of conventional plastics have surged, by which biobased and biodegradable plastics have been promoted as a favour-able alternative. Agricultural side streams have been proposed as a potential feedstock for extracting components for new compostable polymers. The present study investigates agri-cultural side streams for raw material alternatives for biodegradable plastic, including devel-oping a suitable production process and optimising the extraction step on a scale. The work involved a comparative analysis of promising agricultural side streams based on volume, biopolymer concentration and biopolymer price, by which byproducts A and B were con-cluded for laboratory research. A composition analysis was conducted on byproducts A and B. The laboratory research comprised of selecting various pretreatment options: defatting, water-washing, acid treatment, alkaline treatment and grinding.
A design of experiment was conducted to determine the optimal extraction conditions for extraction yield, protein yield, the yield of hydrophobic amino acid and film-formation con-sidering the design factors: solvent concentration (%w/w), liquid-to-solid (L/S)-ratio (w/w), temperature (°C), and extraction time (min). The study found that the optimal conditions of extraction yield for byproduct A, was found to be at 57.4% solvent concentration, 55.0 °C, 2:1 and 38.8 min, obtaining 10.5%. For byproduct B, the parametric optimal of the extraction was found to be at 40% solvent concentration, 59.8 °C, 4:1 and 25.7 min, obtaining 19.7% of extraction yield, 25.7% of protein yield, 61.1% of yield of hydrophobic AA and a film-formation value of 2.0. Given the more promising results for byproduct B, research should further investigate the quality enhancement by including additives and material application. Furthermore, conducting a detailed cost analysis would be crucial to assess the economic feasibility of scaling-up.}},
author = {{Wolfe, Sarah Elisabeth}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Process Development for the Production of Natural Polymers from Residues of the Agricultural Industry}},
year = {{2025}},
}