The potential of biomass-derived bio-liquid to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 from waste and its production-based life cycle assessment

COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant increase in medical and infected domestic waste, greatly increasing risk of human infected with SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, it is critical to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 from solid waste to humans. Current commercial disinfectants present a high carbon footprint issue. Hence, we prepared a renewable wheat straw-based bio-liquid that can damage SARS-CoV-2 RNA and protein. The wet thermochemical extraction (WTE) bio-liquid, with total organic carbon concentration exceeding 1892 mg/L, could effectively damage the virus. However, dry thermochemical extraction (DTE) samples were not efficient due to their low content of effective compounds. The life cycle assessment showed that WTE bio-liquid production implies lower energy and environmental negative impacts than DTE. Moreover, the process by-product, char, can simultaneously reduce 3.1 million tonnes of global CO2 emissions while used as coal substitute. Yield of bio-liquid extremely exceed commercial disinfectant with just 1 % wheat straw utilisation, which meet the demand of processing solid waste. Further, their costs are significantly lower than commercial disinfectants, which are suitable for developing countries. Therefore, the antiviral bioliquid produced from agricultural straw can be a new way to meet the needs of preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and resume the sustainable development of society.