Biotech breakthrough turns rice and sugarcane wastes into everyday products such as air fresheners, fabric softener, flavouring and medicines

Date:25November2019

Country: United Kingdom

Application

• Used to make everyday products such as air fresheners, fabric softener, flavouring for food stuffs, and life-saving medicines.

Description

This project, a collaboration between the UK and Brazil, has made a breakthrough in transforming waste biomass into high-value chemicals, increasing their value by 5000-fold. The simplified 'one-pot' process converts waste sugar cane and wheat straw into valuable chemicals, such as those used in the food industry and precursors for human therapeutic drugs, offering a more viable economic model for biofuel production.

Pathway Description:

 The process used is a simplified 'one-pot' process, which is a consolidated biodegradation-biotransformation strategy.