Young innovators present circular innovations on stage in Geleen

Ashes from chicken feathers and residual streams for a water-retaining soil, oil from orange peels and cookies from beer residues. These are some of the innovative dreams that were given a place on the stage of Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen. The inventors will now get the chance to make their dream a reality.

Some time ago, Brightlands Chemelot Campus issued a call for students and young professionals to come forward with their brilliant ideas to make the world a little more beautiful. The five best submissions were allowed to present their plans on November 3 during the 'Little Big Talks' event on campus. Three of those five participants showcased inspiring plans in the field of agrofood.

Keeping water in fields

An idea from Laura and Vincent Nieboer, students at Maastricht University

Laura: "Our earth is becoming severely depleted by a lot of drought. The water that falls is often washed off the land. Soon there will not be enough land to produce food. Good soil is therefore the basis. Our idea is to make ash from products such as chicken feathers, human hair and leftover agricultural produce. This can then be mixed through the top layer of soil. Liquid granules, which attract water, should ensure that the water is not washed away. We have tested on a small scale. Now we are looking for farmers who have a piece of land available for more extensive testing."

Vincent: "It is important to be able to feed the growing world population. But of course also for the farmers themselves. They want to pass their business on to the next generation. No farmer wants to be the last."

Oil from orange peels

An idea from Kevin Schraven, student at Zuyd University

Kevin: "Every year the Netherlands uses 550 million kilos of oranges. When they are pressed, about 275 million kilos of waste remains. That is about one and a half times the Fortuna stadium full. All that waste is burned. So it's not sustainable. Surely it must be possible to extract valuable substances from the peels? I collected the peels from the orange juice press machine at a lot of supermarkets and started experimenting.

I managed to extract oil from the peels. That oil smells incredibly delicious. But I wanted more and I also managed to get pectin, for making jam and yoghurt, out of it. And cellulose, from which paper is made. Once everything has been extracted from the peels, you are really only left with waste. Interesting for waste processors it seems to me."

Food from residual streams from beer brewing

An idea from Isabel Vermeer and Dannie van Osch, working at Sitech and Vertoro
Isabel: "The Netherlands has more than five hundred hobby breweries. It's quite difficult to make them more sustainable. Yet we think it can be done. By brewing in a certain way, we can cut water consumption by at least half and reduce CO₂ emissions. The waste that remains can be used to make bread, cookies and vegetarian burgers. Now it's often fed to pigs and cows. It's a real shame, of course.

Dannie: "We also look at the sustainability of packaging and transportation. People sometimes ask if our way of brewing is not much more expensive. In general that's not so bad.

Sustainable Development Goals

Brightlands Chemelot Campus is looking for cooperation in developing solutions that contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the field of chemistry and materials. In addition to the spot on the stage of Little Big Talks, the five participants will also be offered a campus program (Campus Live Google) and ultimately have a chance to win the 'CHILL Entrepreneurs Award'. The winner will work with the experts on campus to valorize and implement the idea, so that it will eventually hopefully be realized.

Read all the innovative ideas? You can do so in De Limburger.