Deakin and Jet Technology say ‘where there’s muck, there’s brass’

Deakin University’s Recycling and Clean Energy Commercialisation Hub (REACH) has partnered with Japan’s Jet Technology to recycle organic waste into valuable products, including converting apple waste into organic fabrics and sugar waste into stock feed.

Alfred Deakin Professor and Deakin’s Chair in Biotechnology Colin Barrow and his team from the Centre for Sustainable Bioproducts will work with Jet Technology to develop the company’s Environmental Recycling System (ERS) to convert some of Australia’s 7.6 million tonnes of food waste annually into reusable products.

Professor Barrow said: “Through this project we are exploring innovative methods to reduce organic waste, mitigate environmental impacts, and create value-adding products for a range of sectors.”

Jet Technology’s CEO Howard Ju, said there was great potential to improve organic resource recovery in Australia’s agricultural, dairy and fishery sectors and develop a circular economy.

“Our world leading ERS technology reduces the organic recycling process from weeks or months to a few hours.

“It is a clean process with almost zero pollution to the environment that will produce organic products such as fertiliser, cow feed and textiles.”

The four-year research project will be undertaken at the ‘BioFactory’ at Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus, initially focusing on converting apple pomace – apple skin, pulp, seeds and stems – into a bioproduct for the textile industry.

The project will also look at new ways to deal with one of Australia’s biggest organic waste problems, Bagasse – the material left over when sugar is made which accounts for around 20 percent of the nation’s organic waste.

The aim is to reuse Australia’s 10 million tonnes of bagasse a year into a food source for cows that has the potential to yield $1,000 per tonne commercially.

Professor Barrow said: “Supporting Jet Technology with supply chains and infrastructure, we will develop viable solutions for repurposing industry-generated organic waste to build a circular economy across different sectors, unlocking millions of dollars in value and strengthening domestic manufacturing.”

Picture: Deakin University/L-R/Howard Ju, Research Fellow Motilal Mathesh and Professor Colin Barrow