Bioeconomy

In August 2021, the BioMat Pavilion 2021 was inaugurated on the campus of the University of Stuttgart in a ceremonial setting and in compliance with the hygiene concept. The core of the elegantly curved lightweight construction is an active-bending structure made of natural fibers, reminiscent of bamboo. It was developed as part of the "LeichtPRO" research project.

An international research team has calculated the potential for material efficiency strategies in residential buildings and passenger cars. Up to two-thirds of global emissions could be saved in these areas, provided that appropriate strategies are consistently implemented.

Plastics from the field - 12/08/2021

Great potential for biological residues

Huge amounts of waste are produced both during food production and by consumers. The Conversion Technologies of Biobased Resources group at the University of Hohenheim’s Institute of Agricultural Engineering has developed a process to convert this biomass into hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), the highly potent basic chemical that is used to produce plastics.

ROKO Farming - 03/08/2021

Thinking upwards: vertical farming to be further developed into continuous production

ROKO Farming’s novel technology is designed to produce fruit and vegetables worldwide all year round, while also freeing up areas for rewilding. This semi-automatic production method created by the Ulm-based business has huge future potential, as their success in innovation competitions demonstrates.

Carbon dioxide is one of the main drivers of climate change – which means that we need to reduce CO2 emissions in the future. Fraunhofer researchers are highlighting a possible way to lower these emissions: They use the greenhouse gas as a raw material, for instance to produce plastics. To do this, they first produce methanol and formic acid from CO2, which they convert via microorganisms into building blocks for polymers and the like.

The Hallertau is Germany's largest hop-growing region. During harvesting, hop bine chaff is left over, which is converted into environmentally friendly bio natural gas on site in a biogas plant. But that is not the end of the utilization chain for this fiber plant. Researchers at the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF) have used the plant-containing biogas digestate to produce a composite material that can be…

Alpha-Protein GmbH - 27/07/2021

Insect farming for sustainability

Mealworms instead of fish meal and soybean meal - this is what the sustainable future of feed production looks like as Alpha-Protein GmbH see it. The company has built a highly efficient automated production plant in which residual materials from local food production are used to breed mealworms.

The "livMatS Pavilion" in the Botanical Garden of the University of Freiburg is a model for a bioinspired sustainable construction. In a joint project, researchers from the Universities of Freiburg and Stuttgart together with master’s students from the University of Stuttgart have designed a lightweight pavilion.

Refuels are renewable fuels that can be produced in different ways. When they are mixed and processed such that they meet the existing fuel standards, they are suited for all types of combustion engines. This is the result of the latest vehicle and fleet tests within the project “reFuels – Rethinking Fuels” at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Compared to fully fossil fuels, refuel mixes allow for a CO2 reduction by 25% at least. Moreover,…

The European Union is largely dependent on imports of white phosphorus (P4), a strategic raw material for the food and pharmaceutical industries. To tackle this challenge, the newly started four-year EU-funded project FlashPhos – led by the University of Stuttgart – will recover at a large scale high-quality white phosphorus and other raw materials using sewage sludge as input material.

Start-up kernique catch the zeitgeist - 29/06/2021

Nut snack as a sustainable ecological concept

A delicious vegan nut snack that uses no sugar, artificial additives, gluten or palm oil, is full of essential nutrients, and is part of a commitment to environmental and social sustainability. Impossible? An Esslingen-based start-up called kernique proves otherwise. The start-up is currently planning a crowdfunding phase that offers a lucrative deal for investors. The idea catches the zeitgeist, but what exactly makes it stand out?

The EU funded research project HyFlexFuel recently succeeded to produce biocrudes via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) from a variety of biomasses, including sewage sludge, food waste, manure, wheat straw, corn stover, pine sawdust, miscanthus and microalgae in a pilot-scale continuous HTL plant at Aarhus University (Denmark).

It is not the first time that spiders have served as biological models in the research field of soft robotics. The hydraulic actuation mechanisms they apply to move their limbs when weaving their web or hunting for prey give them powers many roboticists and engineers have drawn inspiration from.

Microorganisms are the oldest, most abundant, and most diverse life forms on earth and offer enormous potential for biotechnological applications. To date, however, only a fraction of them could be isolated and cultivated. The “MicroMATRIX” research project, funded with € 1.5 million by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and led by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), aims to shed more light on the microbial darkness.

The final report including comprehensive fact sheets of 25 applications is now available online in German and English.

Final chord of the EU-project Smart SMEs - 31/05/2021

Building a sustainable network for natural fibre-based SMEs in the Alpine Space

The European project Smart SMEs came successfully to its end in May 2021 with the final conference, which attracted participants from different parts of Europe.

Zero Bullshit Company - 31/05/2021

From being thrown away to becoming a recycled product - Stuttgart start-up produces healthy snacks

Throwing away food? The Stuttgart-based start-up Zero Bullshit Company is declaring war on food wastage by making nutrient-rich products largely from food industry leftovers. The three food technologists who created this transparent brand are looking to develop more than just delicious and nutritious products.

The pulp of coffee beans is considered a waste product on coffee plantations, which is usually thrown away or dumped into rivers - with significant negative consequences for climate change and the environment. Macarena San Martín-Ruiz from the University of Stuttgart is working with Coopetarrazú, the largest coffee cooperative in Costa Rica, to find out how the mixture of pulp and husks can be turned into organic compost and thus protect the…

The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) has signed the grant agreements with 18 new projects, selected for funding under the 2020 Call for proposals. 199 beneficiaries from 26 countries across the EU and beyond will receive BBI JU’s financial support worth €104.5 million. This is the seventh and last BBI JU call which will bring the total investment of the initiative to €821.6 million and the BBI JU’s portfolio to 142 projects.

The amount of plastic waste increases every year. Some of this waste is due to plastic packaging used to protect food. As part of the “BioActiveMaterials” project, researchers at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have developed an eco-friendly coating for paper packaging. With this, not only is plastic saved, but the coating of plant-based proteins and waxes also extends the shelf life of the food.

Freiburg researchers have studied how changing their diet could influence the ecological footprint of Germans.

Population growth and the increasing standard of living make our society face big ecological challenges: Climate change, littering of the seas, dwindling agricultural areas, resource scarcity. Bioeconomy aims at replacing fossil by regenerative resources and at using advanced and sustainable technologies based on biological knowledge and principles.

The BioSinn project found products and applications for which biodegradation at the end-of-life is a real option. 25 fact sheets answer technical and regulatory questions for each application. The market volume of these applications was also estimated: in Germany it is about 170,000 tonnes, in the European Union about 1 million tonnes per year!

The study “Life and Biological Sciences and Technologies as Engines for Bio-based Innovation”, funded by the European Commission, DG Research and Innovation has been published and is now available for download from the website of the Publications Office of the European Union.

Protecting the global climate is an undertaking that presents both industry and society with a major task. It will not be possible to achieve the climate targets simply by limiting global emissions, by saving carbon dioxide (CO2). This is because there will continue to be unavoidable CO2 emissions that will nevertheless have to be compensated.

Alternative source of protein - 07/04/2021

Smart insect farms as sustainable protein sources of the future

It is estimated that by 2050, if not before, the world's population will have grown so much that it will be difficult to provide adequate supplies of food for everyone. It is therefore high time to look for alternatives. One option could be insects as an environmentally friendly source of protein for humans and animals. The start-up company Cepri is developing smart insect farms with the goal to make primary production, which is not yet…

European project with participation of the University of Hohenheim investigates how unprofitable fields can be used sustainably while adding value with renewable raw materials.

AFYREN secures procurement of sugar beet co-products, major feedstock for industrial- scale production of its sustainable chemicals.

Systematically prepared and easily accessible research data can provide an essential basis for decision-making for a wide range of stakeholders from politics, science and industry. The resource database developed by the DBFZ, which contains a wealth of information on various biomass potentials and their current use, has been extensively expanded and is now also available in two languages (DE/EN) with a variety of new functionalities.

Paper technology - 10/03/2021

PLAFCO – a sustainable plastic substitute made from paper

Plastic is indispensable: it is cheap and practical and found in many disposable products such as drinking straws, disposable tableware or even packaging like bonded beverage cartons or bags – and it has a disastrous effect on the environment. The start-up company Plafco Fibertech Oy has developed a sustainable plastic substitute made of paper that could replace many disposable plastic products in the future.

On 8 February, the European Parliament adopted its Own Initiative Report on the Circular Economy which recognised the role of bioplastics for the future. Amongst other issues highlighted, the MEPs emphasised the potential role of bio–based and biodegradable and compostable plastics in the circular economy whilst noting that bio-based and/or biodegradable plastics alone will not provide a solution to the environmental concerns related to plastics.

The European Commission agreed on the successor of BBI JU – the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) in a legislative proposal adopted today. The new partnership between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) is expected to build on the success of BBI JU while stepping up its contribution to the EU’s climate targets, in line with the European Green Deal. The European Parliament and Council will now study the…

Agrivoltaics enables the dual use of arable land: Photovoltaic modules, which are mounted on a structure, generate renewable electricity and underneath agricultural crops grow. The approach increases land efficiency and could mitigate conflicts over the use of arable land in the future. A new guideline provides up-to-date information on the technology, its potential and the current state of development.

Textiles can be coated with the biopolymer chitosan and thus made water-repellent by binding hydrophobic molecules. The good thing is that this can also replace toxic and petroleum-based substances that are currently used for textile finishing. In the last few years Fraunhofer IGB and partners have developed technology to provide fibers with the desired properties using biotechnological processes and chitosan.

University of Hohenheim project contributes to maintaining valuable biotopes: Autonomous robot to help prune fruit trees so they stay healthy.

From field to socket - 03/02/2021

Energy park & Donau-Silphie: a symbiosis that benefits nature

Biogas plants that produce non-fossil fuels are very much in vogue at the moment. In the Swabian hamlet of Hahnennest, four family farms have joined forces to form an energy park and operate a local biogas plant, covering everything from substrate production to the sale of energy.

Microbiologists at the University of Tübingen modify bacteria to produce climate-neutral and rapidly degradable bioplastics.

For quite some time now, the European Commission (EC) is putting a special focus on biodegradable and compostable polymers when assessing the general role of bioplastics.

The University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Polish partner of the BalticBiomass4Value project, published a report which maps biomass value chains for improved sustainable energy use in the Baltic Sea Region countries. The research focuses on the 9 Baltic Sea Region (BSR) countries: Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, and Norway.

Paper production from plant fibres - 20/01/2021

In one cycle: ecopaper, energy and fertiliser made from Silphium perfoliatum

Many consumers don't care about exactly how their paper packaging is made and what it is made of as long as it is "eco". But even producing recycled paper, trees need to be felled. An alternative could be paper made from cup plant. Together with partners, a company called Silphie Paper has developed concept for obtaining fibres for a new type of grass paper, while also producing heat, energy and nutrients for natural fertilisers.

Biobased building materials - 14/01/2021

Chitin for the development of sustainable materials for use in the construction and other industries

Pliable and robust, light and stable - it sounds like an ideal material for the construction and many other industries. A team of researchers at the University of Stuttgart is researching what purposes the naturally good properties of chitin can serve.

As healthy and tasty as mushrooms might be, they are good for much more than just the dinner plate. The Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT has now teamed up with the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP to investigate the use of fungus-based materials for the fabrication of eco-friendly sound absorbers.

The wastewater treatment plant is turned into a vegetable farm, bio-based substances recovered from waste are being utilized to prevent oxidative spoilage in food packaging or provide environmentally-friendly and safe water-repellent coatings on functional textiles. In the EVOBIO project coordinated by Fraunhofer IGB, 19 Fraunhofer Institutes are working on solutions for a sustainable economy.

Only two and a half months after its launch, the EU bioecocomy venture capital fund ECBF has doubled the volume of its first closing.

Natural substance with herbicide potential - 10/12/2020

The same but different: What makes sugar 7Sdh a better herbicide?

The sugar 7-deoxy-sedoheptulose (7dSh) is produced by cyanobacteria and inhibits the same metabolic pathway as the broad-spectrum herbicide glyphosate, thus making it an excellent herbicide candidate. Despite this amazing similarity, the microbiologist who discovered 7dSh, Prof. Dr. Karl Forchhammer, believes that this sugar has clear ecological advantages over glyphosate.

The results of the European Bioplastics’ (EUBP) annual market data update confirm the continued dynamic growth of the global bioplastics industry. “Our industry has successfully weathered the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. And the outlook for bioplastics is also promising as the global market is predicted to grow by 36 percent over the next 5 years”, says François de Bie, Chairman of European Bioplastics.

Outlook on the future of agriculture - 30/11/2020

Agriculture 4.0 - ultramodern and without harmful plant protection products

The demand for organic products is continuing to grow; at the same time nature is being preserved – so why not switch completely to organic farming? The answer is simple: because not everyone can afford it, and with current consumption patterns not everyone would get enough to eat. A cooperative project is researching an an agricultural system that falls between conventional and organic farming.

Approximately 3,000 participants from all over the world are taking part today in the Global Bioeconomy Summit 2020. That Summit takes place from November 16 to 20, guided virtually from Berlin. Germany's partners are ASEAN/Thailand, Japan, Latin America, East Africa and - of particular importance - the EU Commission.

Development of biogenic packaging - 16/11/2020

Sustainable packaging - the devil is in the detail

Modern packaging often boils down to a tick list of biogenic origin and/or biodegradability. But comprehensive sustainable packaging concepts need more than just that. Perishable foods, for example, require special barrier properties. The Albstadt-Sigmaringen University of Applied Sciences is researching packaging concepts for their sustainability.

Dossier - 09/11/2020

Packaging of the future

What will the packaging of the future look like, and what will be required of it? Can packaging be biobased, recyclable, sustainable and economic? In Baden-Württemberg, there are various approaches to developing packaging with the above properties from various sources including agricultural residual and side streams as well as municipal waste.

A new future study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI uses four different scenarios to provide insights into how natural resources could be used in agriculture in 2035 and what role digital decision support systems can play for farmers in this context.

EU research project with the participation of the University of Hohenheim searches for new, sustainable food additives and packaging materials from seaweeds and seagrasses.

Products made from bio-based plastics must undergo the same testing procedures as conventional plastic products to access the market of the European Union (EU). Thereby a health risk for consumers is excluded. Plastics intended to be certified as biodegradable or compostable must undergo additional tests.

In a review article recently published in the scientific journal Waste Management, ATB scientists outline the possibility of using insects to efficiently and sustainably recycle food waste. This insect-based bioconversion can help to close material cycles in the food value chain.

Phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge - 21/10/2020

Bacteria help to recycle phosphorus

Biotechnology for the bioeconomy: in something known as the P-bac process, sulphur bacteria extract phosphorus from sewage sludge ash. Phosphorus is one of the key building blocks of life and an essential nutrient for plant growth. When there is not enough phosphorus in the soil, farmers apply it via organic or mineral fertilisers.

The urgency of the ongoing climate change is increasing. There is no doubt that emissions must be drastically reduced at all levels, but that is not enough. To prevent the worst consequences of climate change, additional carbon sinks, so-called negative emissions, are needed. A recently published whitepaper clearly and scientifically substantiates that biochar is a key technology in this fight against climate change.

An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the Max Planck Institutes for Intelligent Systems and Solid State Research has developed a biocompatible microswimmer made of carbon nitride, which they can propel forward through light. The particle can also store solar energy similar to miniature solar cells equipped with batteries, and can thus also swim in the dark using the stored energy.

Germany generates around 38 kilograms of plastic waste per capita each year. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB and the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV are now working to establish a holistic concept for the sustainable use of biologically degradable packaging materials in the cosmetics industry. The project is focusing on polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs).

The European Environment Agency (EEA) recently published its new report “Biodegradable and compostable plastics – challenges and opportunities”. The report highlights many positive aspects of biodegradable and compostable plastics. Unfortunately, its interpretation in several media outlets focused exclusively on the few critical assumptions the report makes regarding consumer perception.

The European Commission (EC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have launched a circular bioeconomy fund with a target size of €250m.

The workshop organised by Science Business, a leading publication on European research and innovation, involving BIC and the BBI JU, refined several key policy recommendations to European and national policymakers.

New EIT Food project aims to use computer models to optimize bakery processes in order to minimize food waste, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions. Prof. Dr. Bernd Hitzmann: "With the help of simulations, we want to optimize the processes in bakeries, which leads to higher economic and ecological efficiency. This not only reduces production costs for bakeries, but also helps to slow the progress of climate change".

New biomaterials developed at the University of Bayreuth eliminate risk of infection and facilitate healing processes. These nanostructured materials are based on spider silk proteins. They prevent colonization by bacteria and fungi, but at the same time proactively assist in the regeneration of human tissue. They are therefore ideal for implants, wound dressings, prostheses, contact lenses, and other everyday aids.

A viscous biopaste that is easy to process, solidifies quickly and is suitable for producing even complex structures using the 3D printing process has been developed by a research team headed by Prof. Dr. Marie-Pierre Laborie from the Chair of Forest Biomaterials at the University of Freiburg. The wood-based biodegradable synthetic could potentially be used in lightweight construction, amongst other things.

What alternatives to conventional agriculture exist to produce carbohydrates for food and feed? Scientists at Heidelberg University performed model calculations for artificial sugar production with a view towards synthesis of other carbohydrates such as starch.

Time for climate protection is pressing. One approach to tackle this challenge is to use the greenhouse gas CO2 as a raw material for chemicals. The researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, together with partners from science and industry, were able to produce a value-added terpenoid dye from CO2 adsorbed from air by a combination of electrochemical and biotechnological conversion.

In Sumatra, small-scale farmers in particular play a key role, according to a study on the conversion of rainforests into monocultures and their effects Oil palm plantations as far as the eye can see. In addition to a dramatic loss of many animal and plant species, such plantations often lead to massive environmental problems.

Packaging protects products during transport and storage. In order to develop sustainable packaging and conserve resources, Henkel developed an evaluation tool that quickly and reliably checks plastic packaging for recyclability. The tool has now been expanded to include common materials, so that packaging made of paper/cardboard, glass, aluminum and tinplate can be analyzed in addition to plastic. Fraunhofer UMSICHT tested the software tool.

A soft material that heals itself instantaneously is now reality.

Since the beginning of 2019, the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT has been working on a comprehensive characterization and humantoxicological assessment of nanocellulose along its life cycle in the BMBF-funded joint project "NanoCELL" under the coordination of Postnova Analytics GmbH, in order to achieve a reliable risk assessment and safe use in environmentally friendly packaging materials.