It is increasingly important to develop new processes and value chains that use biomass to deliver sustainable alternatives to the goods, processes and energy that form part of our daily lives in order to progress towards net zero.
The Bioeconomy Cluster Builder (BCB), in collaboration with the Scottish Natural Products Network (SNaPNet), delivered this workshop to bring together voices from business, academia and beyond to consider challenges and opportunities in three core aspects of this evolving bioeconomy landscape:
1. Waste biomass and co-products:
Our linear, ‘take-make-dispose’ approach to production has historically viewed the by-products from our economic activity as a series of waste streams. A range of industries are increasingly seeking ways to improve their environmental and commercial performance by creating valuable new products from these materials. From primary producers through to process industries, there are opportunities for biotechnology to deliver solutions that can valorise co-products, turning them into things like bioplastics, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products, food supplements, animal feed and biofuels.
2. Non-food crops as sustainable feedstocks for high value chemical manufacturing:
The discovery of new pathways to create the high value chemicals we rely upon to support industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to textiles will be a key part of our transition away from petrochemical feedstocks. Non-food crops, both new and established, offer great potential as sustainable, bio-based alternatives to traditional feedstocks.
3. Innovative fermentation applications: harnessing Scotland’s distilling and brewing heritage to develop new products from sustainable feedstocks:
Scotland has a long tradition of distilling and brewing. Novel applications of the biotechnology skills, knowledge and experience existing in this prominent sector offer the opportunity to develop a variety of bio-based materials, processes and energy from sustainable feedstocks.
22 авг 2024
