Wheat straw waste could be basis for greener chemicals

Date:10 October 2017

Application

• Used to make eco-friendly resins for wood and biochemicals for greener cement.

Description

Researchers are hoping to use the huge amounts of wheat straw currently left to rot on European farms to develop the building blocks for greener biochemicals.The wheat stalks left behind after harvesting cannot be eaten by animals so are normally used as bedding for livestock or left on fields as a way to enrich the soil. But the OPTISOCHEM project, funded by the EU's Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking Programme, is hoping to transform this excess material into something more useful — a gas called bio-isobutene.

Pathway Description:

The process involves fermentation to break down the wheat straw into simpler chemical compounds