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 CO(2) 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 bio-liquid 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.