Sustainability Challenge:
Reduction in global consumption of meat products is important to help reduce the impacts of climate change, according to the United Nations.
Chemistry Solution:
Ashland’s Benecel™ MX modified cellulose food product provides a plant-based alternative to meat.
Sustainability Benefit:
Plant-based foods and sustainable animal-sourced food could free up several million square kilometers of land by 2050 and cut 0.7-8.0 gigatonnes a year of carbon dioxide equivalent.
To address the need to efficiently and effectively feed a growing global population, as well as help fight climate change, conserve land and water use and improve food security, the United Nations has recommended decreasing global meat consumption. Plant-based foods and sustainable animal-sourced food could free up several million square kilometers of land by 2050 and cut 0.7-8.0 gigatonnes a year of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Ashland has developed an innovative plant-based, meat-alternative food product to help address global food needs. Benecel™ MX modified cellulose (methylcellulose) is a cellulose-based product specially formulated for meat-alternative and vegetable-based applications.
Benecel™ MX can provide a firm bite for products meant to simulate meat products like sausages, meatballs and ham, binding to replace eggs, and can help retain moisture to provide an enjoyable eating experience.
Additionally, at its Benecel™ MX manufacturing site in Belgium, Ashland has taken steps to decrease the environmental impacts of its operations through initiatives that have helped reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and conserve water at the facility.
The manufacturing processes for Benecel can require a significant amount of steam. Instead of burning gas to generate steam on-site and adding an environmental burden, Ashland worked with a neighboring facility that produces a large amount of surplus steam through its waste incinerator processes to create a steam network that has resulted in reduction of burned gas and fewer emissions to the environment.
Overall, the project will provide a GHG reduction equivalent to the energy from 50 windmills, helping Ashland meet it 2020 environmental goals of 10 percent energy reduction and GHG emissions.
The facility also generates wastewater with high salt content, which must undergo on-site biological treatment before being released into the local river. Ashland set an agreement with an adjacent site to receive their rainwater and water drainage and added these new water sources to its on-site rainwater collection points to help treat salty wastewater streams.
The amount of water sourced this way is estimated at 64,000 cubic meters per year, equivalent to 26 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
