Novel integrated agricultural land management approach provides sustainable biomass feedstocks for bioplastics and supports the UK’s ‘net-zero’ target

Yuanzhi Ni,Goetz M Richter,Onesmus N Mwabonje,Aiming Qi,Jeremy Woods,Martin K Patel

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abcf79

Abstract

We investigate the potential in producing biodegradable bio-plastics to support the emergent ‘net-zero’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets in the UK. A ‘cradle to grave’ life cycle assessment was developed to evaluate GHG mitigation potentials of bio-based polybutylene succinate plastics produced from wheat straw-only (single feedstock) or wheat straw plus Miscanthus (mixed feedstocks) agricultural supply systems. For scenarios using mixed feedstocks, significant carbon mitigation potentials were identified at catchment and national levels (emission reduction of 30 kg CO2eq kg−1 plastic compared to petroleum-based alternatives), making the system studied a significant net carbon sink at marginal GHG abatement costs of £0.5–14.9 t−1 CO2eq. We show that an effective ‘net-zero’ transition of the UK’s agricultural sector needs spatially explicit, diversified and integrated cropping strategies. Such integration of perennial bio-materials into food production systems can unlock cost-effective terrestrial carbon sequestration. Research & Development and scale-up will lower costs helping deliver a sustainable bioeconomy and transition to ‘net-zero’.

Highlights

Plastic pollution and climate change are two global sustainability challenges rooted in the exploitation of fossil carbon [1,2]
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions were lower for fully bio-based (FB) than PB cases, due to avoiding fossil fuel-based requirements for the production of the monomer BDO, gaining extra energy credits from bio-DBO production, and causing no petroleumbased CO2 emissions during end-of-life treatment
Biogenic carbon emissions during the end-of-life stage appeared to be higher in FB than in PB products, these biogenic emissions were offset by accounting for the biogenic carbon embedded in the products

Summary

Introduction

Plastic pollution and climate change are two global sustainability challenges rooted in the exploitation of fossil carbon [1,2]. The UK is the first major economy to implement a legally binding commitment to achieve ‘Net-Zero’ greenhouse gas emission by 2050. At the same time as world-wide commitments to Net-Zero are made, many countries are introducing regulations on single-use plastics. As a result of research and innovation in biotechnology, the vision of a society far less dependent on petroleum could become reality [3,4]. A recent study estimated the climate mitigation potential of replacing petroleum-based plastics with bio-based polybutylene succinate (bio-PBS) alternatives from lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) [5]. This study only accounted for emissions from feedstock pre-treatment to end-of-life without considering sitespecific carbon sequestration/emissions resulting from associated land-use change

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion