Ohio State researchers propose sustainable methods for turning food processing waste into dollar signs

Peter Volpe
Tue, 14 Feb 2023 01:05:29 +0000
Campus, Instagram Page, News, acetone, Ashok Bharathidasan, Beenish Saba, biogas, Buckeyes, cfaes, chemicals, Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, economic value, eggshells, Environmental Protection Agency, fats, fermentation, food waste, fuels, homogenous waste, industrial sludges, katrina cornish, landfills, manufacture plastics, medicine, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Nestle, Ohio food companies, ohio state, petroleum, Science of the Total Environment, Smuckers, starches [and 6 more]

Food processing waste from tomatoes can be repurposed as a filler in alternative rubber products like tires, according to researcher Katrina Cornish. Credit: Peter Volpe | Lantern Reporter

Ohio State researchers are doing anything but wasting their time.

A new study published by researchers at the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences finds profitable and sustainable uses for the massive amounts of food waste from food processing and manufacturing companies.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 63 million tons of wasted food was generated in the “commercial, industrial and residential sectors” in 2018. The EPA estimated that the food waste reached landfills or combustion facilities — which alter the state or character of waste through different processes? —? more than other materials found in everyday trash.??

The study analyzed 46 different kinds of food waste — 14 of which came from Ohio food companies — and categorized them based on their potential to be repurposed or integrated into other sustainability-focused products —? such as biogas, fuels and other chemicals. The study revealed companies who repurpose their waste stand to make money from these materials which otherwise end up in landfills.

Katrina Cornish, senior author of the study and professor of bio-emergent materials at Ohio State’s Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, said explaining the financial incentive for companies to make this switch is key. This process, known as valorization, determines the potential economic value of something otherwise valueless.

“The approach with these food processing wastes is asking, ‘Can we valorize them?’” Cornish said. “If we can make them worth money, then they won’t get thrown away, they will be converted and that has the added benefit to the company that they don’t have to pay to get rid of them.”

The study, recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, categorized the waste products into groups based on their composition — vegetables, fats, industrial sludges and starches. The contents of each group were analyzed, and an optimal repurposed use for the waste was determined.

Cornish said wastes, like tomato peels and eggshells, are useful as fillers in the production of alternative rubber, and starchy wastes are a good fit for fermentation into acetone — a widely used solvent and platform chemical needed to manufacture plastics, synthetic fibers and medicine.?

Platform chemicals hold a very high market value because they are otherwise made from petroleum, Cornish said.

Beenish Saba, postdoctoral researcher at Ohio State and first author of the study, said an important condition of the process is that its industry impact is limited to companies with clearly identified homogenous waste — one kind of waste which has been separated out. However, Saba also said building a method with industrial waste is the right start.

“We thought, ‘Let’s first develop a process on industry waste,’” Saba said. “And then we can use it on other waste streams as well.”

The research team, which also included university researchers Ashok Bharathidasan and Thaddeus Ezeji, contacted over 100 Ohio-based companies with over $100 billion in annual revenue in search of waste samples.

Saba said the research team is competing for additional grants to support the method with even more data from companies, including Nestlé and Smuckers.

In addition to monetizing these wastes, the study aligns very closely with the EPA’s goal to reduce 50 percent of total food waste by 2030 and was supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Saba said.

Cornish said she hopes to see the food processing industry want to be more selective of food waste in the future.

“We need internal information from the industry to take the model further, but eventually the model could end up where you just input your waste parameters, learn what you do with it and learn how much money you’ll make,” Cornish said.