BIORECYCLED NEW BIOMATERIALS (BNB)

Parts of the world with high levels of poverty and non-employment, circumstances asociated with migratory movements in search of opportunities and dignified living conditions, have large areas of cultivation. Peanuts (groundnut) are an important crop grown worldwide and one of the most valuable cash crop. Peanut production generates tons of waste that can be recycled to produce new materials, biomaterials from agro-food waste. The use of this waste would serve to establish industry in the producing countries themselves, particularly in the poorest, contributing in this way to the concept of zero waste, better use of natural resources and the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development.

This solution would contribute very positively to improve the lives of millions of people because it fights against poverty, against the waste of high industrial value waste, and because it generates new or better opportunities for people and for the planet.

BNB focuses on the problem of tons of agrifood residues produced annually worldwide. It answers the question How and what can they become? Can they be recycled? Applied science and technology allow these wastes to be converted into new materials, biomaterials, which must replace plastics and other materials derived from non-renewable resources and crude oil. This constitutes one of the great challenges for the Bioeconomy , more than Circular Economy,  all over the world. In addition, all the countries of the world have the commitment to assume in a practical way the remains of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development through concrete measures and actions. But this Agenda also has as a priority objective to fight against poverty and provide the necessary means to improve people's living conditions. And there is the circumstance that both challenges can or are linked, particularly because the BNB proposal responds to both problems, that is to say, it has a double objective. 

Regions of the world with high levels of poverty and non-employment, circumstances  also asociated with migratory movements in search of opportunities and dignified living conditions, have large areas of cultivation. Peanuts (groundnut) are an important crop grown worldwide and one of the most valuable cash crop. Peanut production generates tons of waste that can be recycled to produce new materials, biomaterials from agro-food waste. The use of this waste would serve to establish industry in the producing countries themselves, particularly in the poorest, contributing in this way to the concept of zero waste, better use of natural resources and the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This solution would contribute very positively to improve the lives of millions of people because it fights against poverty, against the waste of high industrial value waste, and because it generates new or better opportunities for people and for the planet.

BNB works on the use of agri-food waste. It has already generated elastomeric materials that function as bioplastics from potato and banana skins. It currently focuses on the use of waste generated by the cultivation and production of peanuts, in particular the peanut hull mixed with other animal waste and a natural polymer also from agricultural waste, to generate materials, biomaterials, which can be alternatives to plastics and wood, or paper and cardboard, used for food packaging, mainly because of the abundance of this waste. 

Peanut hulls are a rich sorce of fiber (47,3%) and do not have any nutritional value. Due to the vaste quantity of peanut hulls generated globally as an agri-food waste, is important to identify innovative uses instead of being incinerated for the most part.

FAOSTAT shows peanut production and yield data for all continents of the world. BNB focuses on this crop because of its volume, economic value and global reach.  And this crop generates tons of residues that can be used, including the peanut hull.

The problem that BNB focuses on is important all over the world: 1) in industrialized and advanced countries because it recycles a very abundant waste to generate new biomaterials that can substitute plastic and wood, and could also be an alternative energy source, 2) equally important but particularly important in less advanced and less industrialized countries where poverty levels are extremely high generating in the population the need to move towards a better world.

BNB is based on the analysis of data on the problems it focuses on, on the practical work at the Complutense University of Madrid (Applied Plant Physiology, FiVe-A Research Group, https://www.ucm.es/grupos/grupo/861) carried out by the Master's students in Applied Plant Biology (https://www.ucm.es/data/cont/media/www/pag-7492/Undergraduate%20and%20Postgraduate%20Studies.pdf; https://www.ucm.es/masterbva/)  in the subject of Bioeconomics, and in particular on the business projects and/or entrepreneurs that develop on Bioeconomics, based on their commitment to sustainable development.

BNB proposes a new application of an existing technology. The necessary technology/machinery already exists to process the peanut by separating the fruits by size and quality and then passing through a shelling machine that separates the seeds (kernels) from the hulls. The peanut hulls is a very abundant by-product (250-300g of peanut shell per kg of peanut produced) without nutritional value. And the vast majority of the hulls generated annually is incinerated.

The alternative to disposing of large quantities of these shells would be to use them to generate a new material. Peanut shells are actually used as absorbent material, shipping packing material or alternative charcoal (National Peanut Board 2018). However, BNB proposes shredding and reducing the peanut shell to dust and mixing it with other natural residues to generate a new alternative material to wood and cardboard or paper for use in food packaging and as a container for other products that are not necessarily foodstuffs (seedling pots) or generally plastic products (cups, plates or cutlery).

BNB is innovative because it introduces a novelty in peanut processing that is the integral use of the crop using the peanut hulls. On the other hand, the technology required is low cost, whether the processing is done on an industrial scale or on a smaller scale.

In the concept of globality applied to the circular economy and circular bioeconomy, artificial intelligence (applied in a multitude of environments, including agriculture and commerce), internet of things (for coding and digital interconnection of objects and processes) and Big Data (in a scaled BNB scenario to manage volume, the variety and speed of data that would be generated by the agro-food waste processing industry) are basic elements for the economic and circular aspects, even more considering the scalability of BNB from the level of waste processing and biomaterial production to its implantation in different locations. It is not possible to conceive of a new industry based on the processing of peanut shells without the technology that allows its implantation, growth and extension, although the production of the new biomaterial requires a very low-cost processing technology due mainly to the residual raw material it uses.

BNB proposes a pilot plan for the production of a new material and understands the relationship between peanut shell processing and industry based on peanut shell biomaterial in a similar way to the relationship between the salt flats of Uyuni (Bolivia), a pilot plan that produces lithium carbonate since 2013, and the use of lithium in high-capacity rechargeable batteries and, consequently, the development of the technological industry.

The growing market for new materials associated with sustainability and the circular economy, raises and will raise the demand for new raw materials and therefore recycled biomaterials based on agro-food waste.

BNB is in the prototype development phase, so there are no beneficiaries at this time.

BNB aims to develop a small-scale pilot scheme in the region of Extremadura (Spain) which has been producing peanuts for a few years. 

Within five years BNB hopes to be operating in a peanut producing country in Central and South America, particularly at a high poverty level.

Financial barriers and market barriers.

On the other hand, in the near future there will be legal barriers to the establishment of BNB in countries other than Spain where we wish to develop the pilot scheme.

1) financial barriers: through national and international programs that finance entrepreneurial initiatives.

2) legal barriers: through agreements and cooperation agreements between countries

BNB is an initiative of the Applied Plant Physiology Research Group (FiVe-A) of the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain)

Complutense University of Madrid (https://www.ucm.es) Full-time staff

Elena Pérez-Urria Carril

Aranzazu Gómez Garay

Beatriz Pintos López

M. Teresa Solís González

Blanca Cifuentes Cuencas

Luisa Martín Calvarro

Adolfo Avalos García

Raquel Alonso Valenzuela

Institute of Food Science, Technology and Nutrition (https://www.ictan.csic.es/ictan/) (Spanish National Research Council, CSIC): Full-time staff

M. Teresa Sánchez Ballesta

All the members of the group belong to the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and the National Research Council (CSIC), two Spanish public institutions very relevant in the scientific and university fields.
Our experience in teaching and research and our commitment guarantee and make the development of BNB viable.
On the other hand, some members of the group work closely and collaborate with the Entrepreneurship Office (Compluemprende, https://www.ucm.es/compluemprende-english) whose mission is to conduct and advise entrepreneurs in the process of idea evaluation and plan development, and also collaborates with entrepreneurship related institutions and programmes.

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BNB is in the prototype phase. With a one-year perspective, the initial business model is as follows: 

 This will be contemplated in the business plan at a later stage of development.

BNB presents itself to Solve MIT for two main reasons:
1) I am responsible for the Bioeconomy course of the Master in Applied Plant Biology in which e develops ideas and projects about Circular Economy and  Bioeconomy. Some of these projects have been recognized by entrepreneurship programs of public and private centers. Consequently, the knowledge and updating in a broad context of this subject is absolutely necessary, as well as the search and monitoring of national and international initiatives and programs that support, validate and promote projects.  

2) MIT is one if not the most prestigious scientific and technological institutions in the world in education, research and innovation. Participating in Solve is already an honour, as well as having the option of providing solutions in the field of circular economy in which BNB participates with education and research in the university environment. 

For all these reasons, if Solve MIT considers BNB it would be a fundamental recognition at all levels and institutions and worldwide in any entrepreneurship program.
Without a doubt, the recognition of Solve MIT would provide an immense value to our project, validate its conceptual framework and the product and service it wants to generate, and allow us to access groups and initiatives that want to join BNB for industrial scale and implementation. All this in order to reach BNB's final objective: to improve the living conditions of the most needy people by providing a powerful tool such as the use of their own resources. 

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Solve MIT

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