Grønt protein fra eng – biorafinering, bærekraft og systemperspektiv

Green biorefinery is a technology where grassland crops are processed for protein extraction, as well as for other valuable by-products. Although extracting protein from grass is not a completely new concept, recent research from the Nordic countries shows that with current technology there is great potential to increase self-sufficiency and reduce the environmental impact of producing protein ingredients for animal feed. In 2023, Norway imported around 110-thousand tons of soybean meal and 194-thousand tons of rapeseed meal as protein sources in animal feed. In particular soybean cultivation contributes to environmental and social challenges in countries where it is produced, and the use of soybean meal in Norway reduces the degree of food self-sufficiency. Since 68% of the agricultural land in Norway is used for cultivated grasslands, green biorefinery technology could be sustainable solution for the future. In the green biorefining process, mechanical pressing is used to separate the green biomass into two parts: fiber-rich pulp and green juice. The green juice is further processed, usually through precipitation, to separate out the protein concentrate which is dried afterwards. This protein concentrate can be used as feed for monogastric animals such as pigs and chickens. The pulp from the first stage can be used as feed for ruminants such as cows, while the remaining brown juice from the precipitation stage can be used as fertilizer or raw material for biogas production. In our project, the aim is to investigate the environmental effects of green biorefining in Norway, but also to conduct a system analysis to increase knowledge about what kind of national implementation will provide the greatest environmental savings. This project is part of a PhD project. In the first year, we explored tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) to analyze and estimate the environmental impacts of green biorefining in Norway. LCA is an ISO-standardized method that is widely used to quantify environmental impacts, identify key problem areas (or “hotspots”), and compare different production systems. In Norway, LCA has already been used to estimate the environmental impacts of milk, meat and grain production. However, the results of an LCA are highly dependent on the choices researchers make when designing real or prospect systems for analysis. Therefore, at the beginning of the project, we spent time reviewing existing literature to gain a better understanding of which factors are most important to investigate further in a Norwegian context. Questions like: “Do we have enough grassland in Norway to produce the amount of protein we need to replace imported protein for feed?”, “Can we compete with highly specialized production systems (such as soybean meal production) in terms of energy use?”, “Is this technology feasible and more sustainable than current systems?”, are questions we will try to answer throughout this project