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Microplastics in straw
Summary
Researchers analyzed straw samples from agricultural fields in southern Finland and found they contained varying amounts of microplastics, raising concerns for animal health via feed exposure and complicating the valorization of agricultural residues into high-value cellulose microfibrils, whose production was found to depend on microplastic content in the biomass.
Abstract Agricultural waste or residues have great potential to be utilized more broadly than for bedding material and animal feed. In this paper, we have analyzed several straw samples, collected from different fields around southern Finland and found them to contain various amounts of microplastics, which make valorization of agricultural residue more difficult than expected. This also causes concern to animal health since the microplastics are almost impossible to wash from the biomass. Especially interesting would be the possibility to produce highly valuable cellulose micro fibrils (CMF), also known as micro fibrillated cellulose (MFC), however, this has shown to depend on the amount of microplastics in the biomass.
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