Issue 18, 2017

Environmental impact assessment of wheat straw based alkyl polyglucosides produced using novel chemical approaches

Abstract

This paper evaluates and quantifies the environmental performance of alkyl polyglucosides sourced from wheat straw (WS-APG), a low-cost and low-ecological impact agricultural residue, compared to that of their commercial counterpart, which is sourced from palm kernel oil and wheat grain (PW-APG). Escalating pressure to consider the environmental sustainability of fossil derived surfactant consumption has driven biosurfactants to become the product of choice within the surfactant market, and a class of ‘plant’ based non-ionic surfactants called alkyl polyglucosides (APG) are particularly prevalent. However, the existing food based feedstock of APG such as coconut oil, palm oil, wheat and corn (in addition to being expensive) will potentially undermine the claimed ‘sustainability’ of the APG products (i.e. the ‘food vs. chemical’ issue). Here, we present the “cradle-to-gate” life cycle impact assessment of a suggested alternative, hybridised APG synthesis technique where the Fisher glycosidation method is supplemented by novel, green chemistry based techniques. This evaluation provides a quantitative insight into direct GHG intensity and other ecological impact indicators, including land use, waste generation and energy consumption. Upon evaluation, the wheat straw-derived pathway delivered GHG-emission savings in the range of 84–98%, compared to that of the palm kernel–wheat grain pathway. Waste generated from the production of unit mass of the product amounted to 0.43 kg and 10.73 kg per kg of WS-APG and PW-APG, respectively. In addition to the above mentioned facts, the ‘cradle–gate’ stages of WS-APG production were also found to consume relatively lower amounts of water and fossil-derived energy. In conclusion, of the two APG production pathways, the suggested ‘hybrid’ pathway using an agricultural residue, wheat straw, was found to be sustainable and to demonstrate better environmental performance.

Graphical abstract: Environmental impact assessment of wheat straw based alkyl polyglucosides produced using novel chemical approaches

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 jun 2017
Accepted
21 jul 2017
First published
18 ago 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Green Chem., 2017,19, 4380-4395

Environmental impact assessment of wheat straw based alkyl polyglucosides produced using novel chemical approaches

K. Lokesh, C. West, J. Kuylenstierna, J. Fan, V. Budarin, P. Priecel, J. A. Lopez-Sanchez and J. Clark, Green Chem., 2017, 19, 4380 DOI: 10.1039/C7GC01719G

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