Amaranth, a model for the future biorefinery of whole plants

Philippe Evon (1) , Guyonne De Langalerie (1, 2, 3) , Thiébaud Ramaux (1, 2) , Laurent Labonne (1) , Stéphane Ballas (3) , Thierry Véronèse (3) , Othmane Merah (1) , Thierry Talou (1) , Pierre Ouagne (2)

1 CAI - Chimie Agro-Industrielle
2 LGP - Laboratoire Génie de Production
3 Ovalie Innovation

Amaranth is an annual herb native to temperate and tropical regions. It is a promising raw material for the biorefinery of whole plants. Looking at the large amounts of starch, proteins and squalene inside its seeds, the latter could find applications in many fields like the food, cosmetics and material industries. This study specifically investigated the possible uses of stems for material applications. Stems are composed of a bark on their periphery (90% w/w) and a pith fraction in their middle (10%). A fractionation process was developed for separating mechanically and continuously these two fractions. Due to their low density (47 kg/m3), pith particles could be used as thermal insulating materials inside buildings. For its part, grinded bark was successfully used for the manufacture of fiberboards using hot pressing. Looking at its usage properties, the optimal hardboard produced appeared as a viable option for replacing current commercial wood-based materials.

Mots clés: Amaranth; Biorefinery; Whole plant; Stem; Material applications

Domaines: Matériaux; Sciences agricoles

Philippe Evon, Guyonne De Langalerie, Thiébaud Ramaux, Laurent Labonne, Stéphane Ballas, et al.. Amaranth, a model for the future biorefinery of whole plants. Plant Fibres and Biopolymers for Biobased Materials and Composites Applications Conference (SYMBIOSE-FLOWER Conference), Apr 2019, Nantes, France. pp.0. ⟨hal-02896593⟩