Rapid repurposing of pulp and paper mills, biorefineries, and breweries for lignocellulosic sugar production in global food catastrophes

Throup, James; Martínez, Juan B. García; Bals, Bryan; Cates, Jacob; Pearce, Joshua M.; Denkenberger, David

doi:10.1016/j.fbp.2021.10.012

Cited by 27 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Quick deployment of technologies to produce sugar from lignocellulosic biomass could make an important contribution to fulfilling the caloric requirements of the global population during the catastrophe period. A previous analysis suggested this food source could be ramped up to a significant amount 6 months after the onset of the catastrophe [ 59 ]. A typical Atwater factor of 4 kcal/g was used [ 60 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other available foods are animal products (meat, organ, milk, fish), and seaweed [ 38 ]. Lignocellulosic sugar and seaweed could technically undergo significant production ramp-up during this period, potentially making a substantial contribution to the global food requirement [ 38 , 59 ]. A few months after that, if crop relocation and/or greenhouse ramp-up [ 25 ] are successful, a significant amount of staple crops could become available again, and possibly significant quantities of single cell protein as well, if industrial production ramp-up succeeds [ 26 , 28 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nutrition in Abrupt Sunlight Reduction Scenarios: Envisioning Feasible Balanced Diets on Resilient Foods

Pham¹,

Martínez²,

Brynych³

et al. 2022

Nutrients

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Abrupt sunlight reduction scenarios (ASRS) following catastrophic events, such as a nuclear war, a large volcanic eruption or an asteroid strike, could prompt global agricultural collapse. There are low-cost foods that could be made available in an ASRS: resilient foods. Nutritionally adequate combinations of these resilient foods are investigated for different stages of a scenario with an effective response, based on existing technology. While macro- and micronutrient requirements were overall met, some—potentially chronic—deficiencies were identified (e.g., vitamins D, E and K). Resilient sources of micronutrients for mitigating these and other potential deficiencies are presented. The results of this analysis suggest that no life-threatening micronutrient deficiencies or excesses would necessarily be present given preparation to deploy resilient foods and an effective response. Careful preparedness and planning—such as stock management and resilient food production ramp-up—is indispensable for an effective response that not only allows for fulfilling people’s energy requirements, but also prevents severe malnutrition.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition in Abrupt Sunlight Reduction Scenarios: Envisioning Feasible Balanced Diets on Resilient Foods

Pham¹,

Martínez²,

Brynych³

et al. 2022

Nutrients

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“…Nevertheless, climate change, sustainability awareness, and the development of the circular bio-economy concept (Garcia-Peréz et al, 2021;Hassan et al, 2019;Markande et al, 2021;Tan & Lamers, 2021;Zambrano, Marquez, et al, 2021a) has made this inviable, according to stakeholders. Therefore, possible scenarios of food shortages due to climate change (Mika et al, 2018;Throup et al, 2021) have raised the interest in nonconventional sources of edible carbohydrates (Asim et al, 2021;Pereira et al, 2021;Throup et al, 2021). As a result, the current trend is to use cropderived starch to produce biocompatible and food-grade surfactants (Bhadani et al, 2020).…”

Section: Building Blocks and Chemicals Derived From Carbohydratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surfactants produced from carbohydrate derivatives: A review of the biobased building blocks used in their synthesis

Ortiz

Alvarado

Zambrano³

et al. 2022

J Surfact & Detergents

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This work reviews the use of carbohydrates and their derivatives as renewable raw materials in the production of surfactants. Methods to attain state‐of‐the‐art carbohydrate‐derived surfactants are described. This includes surfactants widely used nowadays and others that have not yet transcended beyond the academic field. Given the abundance of hydroxyl groups in carbohydrates and the considerable quantity of different surfactant structures that can be generated during their synthesis, selectively obtaining a target product represents a challenge. Therefore, this work focuses on the platform chemicals available to synthesize biobased surfactants. The first part of the review comprises a brief introduction of simple and complex carbohydrates to better understand their chemistry. Then, a description of the processes to obtain biobased building blocks derived from carbohydrates according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, USA), and their usefulness in synthesizing surfactants is presented. This provides an organized inventory of the knowledge around the synthesis–production of surfactants from carbohydrate derivatives, emphasizing raw materials that could be inserted into the circular bioeconomy concept. Finally, the current industry trends and the potential role of biobased surfactants around new dioxane regulations are discussed.

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“…Fast construction methods are hereby proposed to reduce plant construction time, at the expense of increasing the capital expenditure. The fastest, reasonable cost construction method available is to implement 24/ 7 construction, reducing the overall construction time to 32% of the original at an increased labor cost of 47% (Throup et al, 2022), according to the methodology and values of Hanna et al, 2007. This value has been conservatively incorporated in terms of a 47% increase in the capital cost of the plant to account for labor constraints. State-of-the-art concurrent engineering could expedite the first steps of factory planning and engineering.…”

Section: Capital Expenditure Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given that an ASRS could last 5–10 years (i.e., nuclear winter), the cost of storing sufficient amount of food for the global population is estimated to be extremely high in comparison to producing resilient foods that require less or no sunlight ( Denkenberger and Pearce, 2015 ; Denkenberger et al, 2019 ). For example, in an ASRS, cool-tolerant crops could be relocated to more adequate climates ( Pham et al, 2022 ), simple greenhouses could be built on the tropics ( Alvarado et al, 2020 ), and global seaweed production could be quickly ramped up ( Mill et al, 2019 ), sugar could be produced from lignocellulosic biomass ( Throup et al, 2022 ), synthetic fat could be produced from hydrocarbons ( García Martínez et al, 2022 ), acetic acid could be produced from CO 2 via microbial electrosynthesis ( García Martínez et al, 2021a ), mushrooms grown on the residues from logging, cellulose-digesting ruminants, and insects could be used as a food source ( Denkenberger and Pearce, 2015 ), and leaf protein concentrates could be obtained ( Pearce et al, 2019 ). This work studies the use of microbial protein produced via methanotrophic bacteria as a potential component of a food-crisis response.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methane Single Cell Protein: Potential to Secure a Global Protein Supply Against Catastrophic Food Shocks

Martínez¹,

Pearce

Throup³

et al. 2022

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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Global catastrophes such as a supervolcanic eruption, asteroid impact, or nuclear winter could cause global agricultural collapse due to reduced sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface. The human civilization’s food production system is unprepared to respond to such events, but methane single cell protein (SCP) could be a key part of the solution. Current preparedness centers around food stockpiling, an excessively expensive solution given that an abrupt sunlight reduction scenario (ASRS) could hamper conventional agriculture for 5–10 years. Instead, it is more cost-effective to consider resilient food production techniques requiring little to no sunlight. This study analyses the potential of SCP produced from methane (natural gas and biogas) as a resilient food source for global catastrophic food shocks from ASRS. The following are quantified: global production potential of methane SCP, capital costs, material and energy requirements, ramp-up rates, and retail prices. In addition, potential bottlenecks for fast deployment are considered. While providing a more valuable, protein-rich product than its alternatives, the production capacity could be slower to ramp up. Based on 24/7 construction of facilities, 7%–11% of the global protein requirements could be fulfilled at the end of the first year. Despite significant remaining uncertainties, methane SCP shows significant potential to prevent global protein starvation during an ASRS at an affordable price—US$3–5/kg dry.

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Rapid repurposing of pulp and paper mills, biorefineries, and breweries for lignocellulosic sugar production in global food catastrophes

Cited by 27 publications

References 46 publications

Nutrition in Abrupt Sunlight Reduction Scenarios: Envisioning Feasible Balanced Diets on Resilient Foods

Nutrition in Abrupt Sunlight Reduction Scenarios: Envisioning Feasible Balanced Diets on Resilient Foods

Surfactants produced from carbohydrate derivatives: A review of the biobased building blocks used in their synthesis

Methane Single Cell Protein: Potential to Secure a Global Protein Supply Against Catastrophic Food Shocks

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