Marianna Garfí‡, Kurt Ziegler-Rodriguez§, Eva Gonzalez-Flo|, Joan García§Corresponding author: Marianna Garfí ( marianna.garfi@upc.edu ) © Marianna Garfí, Kurt Ziegler-Rodriguez, Eva Gonzalez-Flo, Joan García. This is an open access preprint distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Garfí M, Ziegler-Rodriguez K, Gonzalez-Flo E, García J (2025) Social performance of bio-based products from microbiomes: a step forwards their broader adoption and market penetration. ARPHA Preprints. https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e159547 |  |
In recent decades, interest in bio-based products has grown significantly due to rising concerns about eco-friendly and sustainable alternatives to synthetic polymers and conventional energy sources. These bio-derived materials have the potential to substitute products obtained from fossil fuels, including plastics, additives, colourants and energy carriers like hydrogen (H₂). Additionally, within the framework of a circular bioeconomy, bio-based products can help decrease waste generation, lessen environmental harm, and enhance the efficient use of resources (Chrispim et al., 2024).
The EU Horizon 2020 PROMICON project has developed a Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) (ISO, 2024; UNEP, 2020) to evaluate the social implications along the life cycle of four bio-based products (additives, bioplastics, pigments, and hydrogen) generated by microbiomes.