Non-degradable packaging and cheese whey are two widely produced items, disposal of which causes severe environmental issues. This study tried to address the problems by innovatively valorizing cheese whey to cleaner products including fungal chitosan, biomethane, and novel biopolymer-based films, aiming at green food packaging via a two-stage biorefinery. As the first stage, chitosan was extracted from the biomass of Mucor indicus, an edible filamentous fungus cultivated on cheese whey, resulting in 6.11 g chitosan-rich fungal biomass per 1 L of whey. The obtained fungal chitosan was embedded in wheat starch at varying portions, and further analyses investigated the characteristics of the films. ATR-FTIR and XRD results revealed the good compatibility and synergic effect of the components. The blend film with 6 wt% chitosan showed the least water swelling index (63.8%) and oxygen permeability (∼0.5 Barrer (10⁻¹⁰cm³ cm/cm².s.cmHg)). The film also had acceptable optical performance with ∼1.0 A₆₀₀/mm opacity. In the second stage, the effluent of fungal cultivation underwent anaerobic digestion, producing 498.2 mL/g VS biomethane. Overall, 1 m³ of cheese whey yielded 0.733 Kg chitosan, 17.0 m³ biomethane, and 89.6% COD removal. The applied cleaner approach, on the whole, provided a biopolymer with the potentiality to produce sustainable packaging that could alleviate plastic pollution, in addition to generating green energy and leaving eco-friendly wastewater.

不可降解包装和奶酪乳清是两种广泛生产的产品，其处置会导致严重的环境问题。本研究试图通过创新地将奶酪乳清转化为清洁产品（包括真菌壳聚糖、生物甲烷和新型生物聚合物基薄膜）来解决这些问题，旨在通过两级生物精炼厂实现绿色食品包装。作为第一阶段，从毛霉的生物质中提取壳聚糖，一种在奶酪乳清上培养的食用丝状真菌，每 1 升乳清可产生 6.11 克富含壳聚糖的真菌生物量。将获得的真菌壳聚糖包埋在不同部分的小麦淀粉中，进一步分析研究了薄膜的特性。ATR-FTIR和XRD结果表明各组分具有良好的相容性和协同作用。含有 6 wt% 壳聚糖的共混膜显示出最小的水溶胀指数 (63.8%) 和透氧性 (~0.5 Barrer (10 ^-10 cm ³  cm/cm ² .s.cmHg))。该薄膜还具有可接受的光学性能，不透明度约为 1.0 A ₆₀₀ /mm。在第二阶段，真菌培养出水进行厌氧消化，产生 498.2 mL/g VS 生物甲烷。总体而言，1 m³份奶酪乳清产生 0.733 Kg 壳聚糖、17.0 m ³生物甲烷和 89.6% 的 COD 去除率。总体而言，应用更清洁的方法提供了一种生物聚合物，除了产生绿色能源和留下环保废水外，它还具有生产可持续包装的潜力，可以减轻塑料污染。