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Processes and technologies in the bioeconomy

The state of Baden-Württemberg is characterised by strong economic expertise in the field of plant and mechanical engineering as well as excellent research institutions in the fields of biology, biotechnology, bioprocess engineering and chemistry. These form an excellent basis for a sustainable economy by promoting technology development and innovation for tomorrow’s bioeconomy.

The creation of a biobased economy requires process innovations that enable the efficient utilisation of raw and residual materials. Process innovations in the bioeconomic sense include processes and technologies that use biogenic raw and residual materials as the starting substrate, as well as biobased processes that exploit the metabolic activities of living organisms such as microorganisms, bacteria or algae. In both cases, the goal must be to develop sustainable, flexible and cost-effective processes that can be scaled up quickly to industrial scale.

A huge variety of methods and processes is used in the bioeconomic area. The overall aim is to achieve a coupled and cascading use of biogenic raw material resources and residual materials. The main focus is on simple and combined chemical, physical and biotechnological/-catalytic conversion technologies.

The biorefinery concept is an intelligent and promising solution for replacing oil with biomass as a raw material to produce fuels, power, heat and chemicals. Biorefineries integrate different biomass conversion processes and technologies. The biorefinery approach is based on a holistic utilisation of biomass for producing value-added (intermediate) products. Thus, biorefineries aim for zero-waste biomass utilisation by applying efficient technologies to convert biomass into energy and products.

However, a biorefinery does not necessarily need to combine all process steps in one plant. Depending on the location, even small, modular plants can be the right choice for creating value with biomass. It is important that biomass digestion and conversion processes are resource-tolerant and flexible to take account of different biomass compositions and quantities of waste and thus process different material flows in one process step.

As the situation stands, new and improved technologies and processes are mainly being implemented in pilot and demonstration plants. Further efforts are needed to transfer applications to an industrial scale.

Processes and technologies in the bioeconomy

  • ProGrün project - 30/12/2023

    Animal feed often contains protein from soy and importing it causes major environmental harm. In the ProGrün project, researchers at the University of Hohenheim, including a work group led by Prof. Dr. Andrea Kruse, are developing a scalable technological process to extract proteins from grassland cuttings and use them to make sustainable animal feed produced in the region where it will be used.

  • Facade greening with precipitation retention - 19/12/2023

    Due to dense urbanisation and associated soil sealing, heat and heavy rainfall are becoming an increasing problem for people living in cities. Researchers at the German Institutes of Textile and Fibre Research (DITF) in Denkendorf have developed innovative living walls that not only help cool the environment, but also provide flood protection thanks to their water retention properties.

  • Sustainable binder alternative - 18/12/2023

    Plastic is all around us; and unfortunately, it is not going away any time soon. The search for more sustainable solutions is fully underway. However, binders that degrade only with difficulty or not at all are still used to bond natural materials such as wood and straw - not yet truly environmentally friendly. Fraunhofer researchers are working on an insect-inspired wood binder that makes bonded wood products both resistant and biodegradable.

Website address: https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/bw/definition/processes-and-technologies-in-the-bioeconomy