Article - 04/12/2017 Textiles: water-repellent thanks to fungal proteins Outdoor lovers and athletes love them: water-repellent jackets and trousers. However, many consumers are unaware that the chemicals used to functionalise the textile surface often pollute the environment. Organic fluorine compounds (perfluorocarbons = PFC) are usually added to textiles to make them water-repellent. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB and the Hohenstein Group are researching an…
Article - 30/11/2017 Biomass from algae and the wholesale market – a promising replacement for fossil raw materials Funding renewable energies is one of the EU’s key objectives. Biomass such as algae and organic waste are particularly promising because they are not in competition with food production. Scientists at the Fraunhofer IGB in Stuttgart ferment biomass from wholesale market waste and algae. They use a cascade process to obtain valuable materials and the biogas methane. Their aim is to close material cycles and achieve high efficiency and flexibility…
Article - 27/11/2017 Microalgae – resource-saving raw materials for the food and feed sectors Coal, petrol and natural gas are our energy sources and the basis for the food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. However, the supply of fossil fuels is gradually running out. The Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart has turned to microalgae in the search for alternative sources of energy. Initial pilot projects in which a variety of different methods based on state-of-the-art technologies were…
Article - 15/11/2017 From biomass to diesel Using the power of microbes: biochemists from Leipzig and Tübingen use the combined power of microbes and electrolysis to produce fuels from organic material. This new process uses electricity from renewable resources to produce diesel from organic waste and green cuttings, amongst other things, and can therefore also be used for storing wind and solar energy.
Bioeconomy in construction and architecture - 25/10/2017 Development of innovative, ecological construction materials and methods at the University of Stuttgart The Baden-Württemberg construction sector is currently experiencing a similar boom to the one that occurred in 1996. Between January 2016 and January 2017, low interest rates and uninterrupted demand for housing has led to an increase in orders of almost 10%1. A shift from conventional building materials to biobased building materials and products would likely also support the transition to a bioeconomy in this economic sector. The Institute for…
Article - 29/09/2017 Building with bamboo and fungi – renewable buildings of the future Bamboo to replace steel and fungi to replace concrete: a research group at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is working on ways of using renewable raw materials in the construction industry. Biological building materials such as bamboo and fungal mycelium could one day replace conventional materials such as steel and concrete.
Article - 13/09/2017 Flexible biogas plant operation – new concepts for stabilising bioenergy provision The lack of flexibility with regard to peak demand for electricity – both for consumers and producers – is a well-known problem as far as the production of electricity from renewable resources is concerned. Biogas plants present a particular challenge due to the complex and relatively slow microbial processes involved. A research project called FLEXIZUCKER at the Universities of Ulm and Göttingen aims to make biogas production more flexible and…
Article - 03/08/2017 PURCELL – cellulose to replace plastics Glass fibre-reinforced plastics have become an integral part of our everyday life: in cars, playground slides, swimming pools or on facades, such composites are used wherever stability is required. Unfortunately, both production and disposal are far from sustainable. Scientists from the German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf have now developed an innovative material made from pure cellulose, which has practically the same…