Is the future bio-based? ‘It’s a shock for people to see how many things in our homes are fossil fuel-based’

A “biobus” is touring Ireland showing people how we need to move away from using products made from crude oil and towards those made from bio-based materials.

The bright-orange-coloured bus fuelled on hydro-treated vegetable oil is on the road until November 17th, raising awareness of the bioeconomy and showing people just how reliant we are on products made from petrochemicals.

The public are invited to hop aboard the Biobus – stop off points on biorbic.com – to find out just how many products in our everyday lives contain petrochemicals. The inside of the Biobus, kitted out with a mini-kitchen, shower-room and bedroom, reveals how ubiquitous petrochemical ingredients are. And it’s not just things that are obviously made from plastic (containers, packaging, toys, pens and so on): petrochemicals are in everything from cleaning agents, paints and cosmetics to pillows, acrylic worktops and much of our clothing and footwear.

“It’s a shock for people to see how many things in our homes are fossil fuel-based. On the Biobus, the only things that don’t have petrochemicals are metal cutlery and wooden chopping boards,” says Christine Short, research funding manager with BiOrbic, the national bioeconomy research centre.

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The bioeconomy is an economy whose resources and industrial base rely on natural resources – either renewable or bio-based sources from plants, animals, fungi and microbes. It has been part of European policy since 2012 and part of government policy since 2018. And as Ireland’s first bioeconomy action plan (2023-2025) is signed off by the Government, experts argue that developing bio-refineries where new bio-products can best be tested for the market will be a key element of a sustainable economy in the future.

Visitors to the Biobus are shown some sample products made from bio-based materials. For example, the Kerry-based cosmetics range Seabody uses seaweed as a core ingredient; the Offaly farmers making wool-filled pillows (dooleyswool.ie) and compostable single-use aprons for medical settings (happeearth.ie).

Other international examples include MoEa, French-designed leisure shoes made in Portugal from fruit peelings mixed with cotton or recycled plastic; the Dutch Biobuddi, children’s toy blocks made from sugar cane; and Scottish Vegware, single-use food containers made from bio-plastics.

“The bioeconomy is crucial for Ireland to become sustainable, yet most citizens haven’t heard about it. We want to bring this information directly to people so that they can be informed and active in our sustainable journey,” says Amanda Mathieson, public engagement manager at BiOrbic. Those who visit the Biobus are also asked which areas researchers should prioritise, with bio-based materials for medicines and medical equipment among the suggestions so far.

“We are at the early stages of a bio-revolution, where we will transition from a dependence on fossil resources to a more sustainable and balanced circular bioeconomy,” says Prof Kevin O’Connor, director of BiOrbic, which was founded in 2017 and whose chief funder is Science Foundation Ireland.

Ireland is about midtable in Europe at the moment, with countries like France, the Netherlands and Denmark leading the way on the bioeconomy

—  James Gaffey of Munster Technological University

O’Connor believes Ireland is particularly well-placed to be a leader in the bioeconomy. “We already have agri-food and marine industries of global significance as well as a profile of larger companies and SME driving innovation with sustainability to the fore,” he says.

So-called biomass feedstocks in Ireland include grass, cattle manure and slurry, cheese industry waste, meat and bone meals, pig and chicken manure and spent mushroom compost.

James Gaffey is the codirector of the Circular Bioeconomy (CircBio) research group of 25 researchers based at Munster Technological University.

“Ireland is about midtable in Europe at the moment, with countries like France, the Netherlands and Denmark leading the way on the bioeconomy,” he says.

According to Gaffey, the focus has moved from just creating value from new materials to understanding the risks and trade-offs of using biological materials within planetary boundaries. For example, there are lots of opportunities to develop glues and resins from forest waste, but drawing on these bio-materials needs to be balanced with upholding the biodiversity in the forest.

With so much of Irish agricultural land under grass, researchers have focused on finding ways to get more value from this protein source. “We import three million tonnes of protein animal feed from South America, but we have found ways to harvest fresh grass and crush it to extract a protein to feed in liquid form to pigs and poultry while the cows continue to feed on the grass. This grass feed is five times more sustainable than importing soya bean from South America,” says Gaffey.

This research is part of a wider partnership between BiOrbic, Carbery Co-operative and Shinagh farm to establish the world’s first carbon neutral dairy farm in Cork. There are other uses for grass such as a fibre for insulation materials which is currently being processed in a Swiss bio-refinery.

Another example of the bioeconomy in action is Bio-Marine Ingredients Ireland, led by James Whooley, former chief executive of State seafood agency Bord Iascaigh Mhara. The aim of this company is to create a range of fish-based high-value food ingredients similar to what the dairy industry did with whey proteins. Working with fishermen in Killybegs, Co Donegal, Bio-Marine Ingredients extracts proteins, oils and calcium from fish to use in food ingredients and as animal feed at its bio-refinery in Castleblaney, Co Monaghan.

Gaffey cites the value of a large multipurpose bio-refinery as an opportunity for companies to test and scale up their products while bringing jobs to rural Ireland

Gaffey says that although Ireland has been slower than some countries to invest in bio-refineries, the EU Just Transition fund and the Shared Island fund is now poised to support such bioeconomy demonstration sites throughout the island of Ireland. Arguably farmers, industrialists and investors need to see these bio-refineries in their own regions to fully take on board the potential that exists within the bioeconomy.

The public also needs to buy more bio-based products, and although high-profile tea and coffee brands have gained a greener image for making tea bags and coffee capsules compostable by removing plastics, the potential for new bio-based products is vast.

A CircBio study of consumer behaviour in 2021 found that while 93 per cent of consumers said they preferred bio-based products over fossil fuel products, there was still relatively low awareness of brands using bio-based materials. “The consumer sentiment was there but it wasn’t matched with actions,” says Gaffey.

O’Connor says the deep demonstration sites are what need to happen next. “We are developing the national bioeconomy campus at a former mine site in Lisheen, Co Tipperary, with the backing of Enterprise Ireland and Tipperary County Council.”

He describes it as the Irish Financial Services Centre of the bioeconomy and cites the value of a large multipurpose bio-refinery as an opportunity for companies to test and scale up their products while bringing jobs to rural Ireland and increasing public awareness of bio-based products.

“This will allow them to de-risk investment and see what works and what doesn’t before they build their own bio-refineries,” he says. Tirlan (formerly Glanbia) is already trialling products made from the byproducts of whey protein such as bio-based chemicals to replace oil-based solvents and plastics and unnatural food preservatives at this site.