Specifically, the technique turned bread leftovers, vegetable leftovers andfruit peel into a so-called “biochar” which is a charcoal-like product thatcontains no petroleum. It is made by heating biomass.
Dr Trairat Muangthong-on, head of theteam, said the technique can be applied to reduce the disposal cost of foodwaste while also generating a low-cost fuel for industries.
Trairat said the breakthrough can be also adoptedby government agencies in their push for sustainability.
The United Nations Environment Programmereported that in 2019 there was over 931 million tonnes of food waste aroundthe world. The Thai Pollution Control Department revealed that there were 9.68million tonnes of food waste in the country in 2022.
Trairat said his team will next researchhow to turn other types of food waste into biochar and try applying thetechnique with waste at factories making sugar from sugarcane and at animalfood factories./.