Imagine taking the leftovers from tomato or potato farming and treating them like a gold mine. Instead of letting these scraps rot, this process cleans them up and uses tiny microbes to turn them into protein for food or plastic-like materials. It is like a recycling plant for farms that creates useful products from things usually thrown away.
Agricultural residues are often wasted or underutilized, while the market for alternative proteins and bioplastics is growing. Companies struggle to find sustainable, cost-effective ways to replace oil-based chemicals and food-crop proteins.
A cascading biorefinery system that extracts proteins, polyesters (PHA), and chemicals from agri-waste. It includes optimized bioconversion methods using fungal hydrolysis and supercritical CO2.
If you are a packaging manufacturer dealing with the high cost of petroleum-based plastics — this project developed PHA polyesters from agri-residues that provide a fully biodegradable alternative for the farming sector.
If you are a feed producer dealing with unstable soy prices — this project developed microbial proteins from waste streams that can compete with food crop-based equivalents.
If you are a fertilizer company dealing with strict environmental regulations — this project developed a way to upscale the production of bio-based fertilizers from residue streams.
Based on available project data, the project aims to reduce the cost of agriculture and food systems on the environment and health by using underexploited residues.
The project has shown promising scale-up potential for microbial proteins, fertilizers, and PHAs, though it is currently using a frugal design mindset for development.
Based on available project data, the consortium is producing best practice abstracts and first results to ensure maximal exploitation of the findings.
The project follows safe-and-sustainable-by-design (SSbD) criteria to ensure that the bioconversion processes meet safety and environmental requirements.
It uses a cascading biorefinery approach to convert residues from sectors like tomato, soy, straw, and potato into a portfolio of bio-products.
The consortium is heavily weighted toward commercial application, with 18 industry partners representing a 47% industry ratio. With 38 partners across 12 countries, including a strategic EU-China cooperation, the project has a strong bridge between academic research (12 universities) and market deployment (7 SMEs), suggesting a high likelihood of commercial translation.
Contact the Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (INRAE) in France.
Contact us to connect with the AgriLoop consortium for licensing bioplastic and protein production tech.
