2020-1.1.2-PIACI-KFI-2020-00117

2020-1.1.2-PIACI-KFI-2020-00117:
Development of value-added biomass utilisation technology from agricultural and forestry by-products in the mushroom-biogas complex system

Project ID number: 2020-1.1.2-PIACI-KFI-2020-00117

Presentation of the project content:

By the middle of the century, the world’s population could reach 10 billion, while arable land will shrink by 40% and drinking water by 30%. A key issue for Hungarian agricultural production is also to increase efficiency, i.e. to produce more food with less use of resources. This underlines the need to make land and its sustainable use a top priority. With its 5.4 million hectares of agricultural land and 2 million hectares of forest, Hungary has an outstanding biomass production potential even within the EU. However, only a small proportion of this biomass is crop biomass, i.e. food or food raw material, which accounts for about one fifth of the 105-110 million tonnes of primary biomass produced annually. It can therefore be said that a significant part of the biomass produced by agriculture, which is renewed year after year, is not crop biomass but plant stems, leaves and roots and forest wood (agricultural by-products, forestry products, by-products). This means that a significant part of the biomass released by arable land is lost to food production. In terms of efficiency gains and sustainability, it is also important to improve this ratio, as it can provide a significant competitive advantage for Hungarian agricultural operators. Global demand for biomass is projected to almost double between 2005 and 2050, creating competition between different uses and leading to a significant and rapid increase in prices.

In our country, a significant part of non-crop biomass is not utilised, and it is difficult to introduce it into a value-added technological system beyond thermal utilisation. The utilisation of agricultural and forestry by-products is hampered by their very heterogeneous composition, the lack of a logistics system in many cases, and the fact that they contain 25-35% lignin, a highly resistant biopolymer. Lignin is the main building material for plants, along with cellulose, and strengthens and stiffens the plant’s support system. The breakdown of lignin is essential in the carbon cycle, but it cannot be hydrolytically degraded due to the type and heterogeneity of its bonds. Some fungi selectively degrade lignin and do not or only to a lesser extent utilize cellulose, hence they are also called white rot fungi. White rot fungi produce extracellular oxidative enzymes that efficiently degrade lignin. Such a fungus is the medicinal and healthy food mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus. In relation to mushroom cultivation, the primary objective of the project is to integrate agricultural and forestry by-products not yet used in food production into the mushroom biogas production system. This will increase food production without increasing the amount of land under cultivation. The project also aims to develop the energy potential of the more easily degradable cellulosic and hemicellulosic biomass components identified by the mycelium of the mushroom.

The overall aim of the project is to develop a new, internationally unique complex production process that uses the by-products of one production system as feedstock for the other, based on the principles of a circular and a biomass-based economy. To this end, the project brings together two economic actors involved in renewable energy production alongside their core agricultural activities. Agrár-Béta Ltd. produces a variety of agricultural by-products as a result of its agricultural production activities, which can be used as raw material for the production of the Pilze-Nagy Ltd. Another aim of the project is the involvement of disadvantaged agricultural areas in value creation by developing a cultivation system of perennial herbaceous and woody energy crops (short rotation energy willow – Salix viminalis, American silk mallow – Sida hermaphrodita L) suitable for high biomass mass production. The inclusion of these plants, grown primarily for thermal energy production, in the cultivation of wild mushrooms is a novelty at international level, and neither scientific nor practical examples are known. develops a long-lasting food product for a healthy and balanced nutrition, the residual cultivation medium is used in biogas production and the fermentation residue is returned to the soil, thus ensuring the nutrient cycle, This will provide an example of how to combine existing production systems to produce food, bioenergy and biofertiliser from lignocellulose-rich biomass in a cascade system in several steps, thus adding value to agriculture.

Within the framework of the project, Bay Zoltán Nonprofit Ltd. carries out various laboratory (physical, chemical, microbiological) and professional (e.g. life cycle analyses) studies that contribute to the for the selection of new strains of mushrooms selected for higher lignin-degrading capacity, and the newthe development of new types of venus substrates and food products.