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Press release - 30/08/2021
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/biegsam-wie-bambus-belastbar-und-leicht
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Start-up PROSERVATION - sustainable packaging - 21/09/2021
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging is very practical, but it is made from petroleum and is not very environmentally friendly in other ways either. Single-use plastic containers made of EPS have therefore been banned in the EU, but alternatives are also urgently needed. The Stuttgart-based start-up PROSERVATION has developed an ecological packaging material made from grain husks that could replace EPS and be just as effective.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/husk-substitute-polystyrene-packaging-materials-good-conscience
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Reduction of greenhouse gases in wine production - 31/08/2021
In the EU project REDWine, the CO2 produced during wine fermentation is captured and used to produce algae biomass. Novis GmbH from Tübingen supplies the complete system for CO2 utilisation. The aim of the project is to reduce the share of global warming caused by wine production in a way that is economical for producers.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/redwine-project-and-climate-change
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Press release - 27/07/2021
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…
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/furniture-biogas-plant
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Specialized in Sustainability - 30/09/2021
The research project RUN (Rural Urban Nutrient Partnership) explores how waste might be used more efficiently as a resource. In this project, Veronika Fendel investigates how recyclable materials from biowaste and domestic wastewater can be fed back into the material cycle in the best possible way.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/circular-economy-future
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Dossier - 17/11/2021
Sustainability is in vogue. And it’s not a question of wanting to be sustainable, but having to be: as the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows, protecting the climate and the environment calls for swift action. Biorefineries that use renewable raw materials and recycle industrial raw materials are playing an important role in the bioeconomy concepts of many countries - including the state of Baden-Württemberg.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/dossiers/biorefinery-new-paths-build-our-tomorrow
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Climate-friendly circular economy - 11/11/2021
A Fraunhofer team has successfully produced a dye using CO2 adsorbed from the air. The aim is to move towards a climate- and resource-friendly circular economy. Chemicals, as well as fuels, can be produced cost-effectively using this process. How does the technical process work, and what opportunities does it open up?
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/co2-air-raw-material-chemicals
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Press release - 13/01/2022
Making important raw materials for fine chemicals out of carbon dioxide really works. As part of the Max Planck collaborative project eBioCO2n, a team of researchers from Fraunhofer IGB have successfully performed a first ever fixation of CO2 via a multi-enzyme enzyme reaction driven by electricity yielding a prospective intermediate for the chemical industry. The process for electro-biocatalytic CO2 fixation was recently published and is…
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/turning-harmful-co2-useful-chemicals
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Press release - 12/01/2022
Chitin is the main component of insect carapaces and ensures that they are both stable and flexible. The Chitinfluid research project, funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation, focuses on the use of chitin in construction and aims to process chitin and its derivatives into sustainable materials. In a hybrid symposium under the auspices of Prof. Sabine Laschat from the University of Stuttgart, the project team discussed the current state of research…
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/insect-carapace-sustainable-building-material
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Protection against game damage - 13/01/2022
Young forest plants need protecting against damage and as a result it’s often hard to miss the colourful plastic tree guard sleeves when out walking in forests. These tree guard sleeves are neither pleasing to the eye nor sustainable. Bernd Schairer UG from Albstadt has developed sapling protectors made of wood that contain no plastics, metals or chemicals, do not require removal and disposal, and are produced in a socially responsible way.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/sapling-protectors-made-domestic-wood-simple-effective
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Further utilisation of plant residues - 25/11/2021
Biogas plants produce energy-rich gas by fermenting biomass. This process generates both liquid and solid fibrous and particulate fermentation residues. Researchers at the German Institutes of Textile and Fibre Research (DITF) have now managed to create a resistant and water-repellent fibre composite material from solid hop residues that can be used as a veneer to coat wood panels.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/novel-fibre-composite-made-hop-fermentation-residues
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Lentil cultivation in a producers’ association - EIP-AGRI Rhizo-Linse project - 23/05/2022
Complicated cultivation, fluctuating yields and complex cleaning: Leisa – as lentils are called in Swabian – are demanding. So to produce lentils economically, 130 farmers in the Swabian Alb have joined forces and set up the organic producers’ association Alb-Leisa. Their lentil harvests are processed and marketed by a company called Lauteracher Alb-Feld-Früchte.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/cultivation-market-lentils-swabian-alb
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Lentil cleaning - EIP-AGRI Rhizo-Linse project - 26/04/2022
The Altdorf mill, just under 7 km south of the city of Böblingen, has operated lentil cleaning facilities since 2019, the year that the Sessler mill in Renningen, 20 km further north, ceased all operations including lentil cleaning. After receiving a number of enquiries from farmers and local mills, brothers Karl and Jörg Ruthardt took a chance and launched a lentil cleaning operation in addition to their mill and farm shop business.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/lentil-cleaning-altdorf-mill
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Press release - 02/02/2022
fischertechnik has set a new milestone with the Animal Friends construction kit, as the building blocks and packaging are largely made of renewable resources and the models depict playful animals in new colours. The company is thereby taking another major step towards sustainability. The bio-based building set recently won the Toy Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the industry.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/animal-friends-aus-nachwachsenden-rohstoffen
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Lentil cultivation and cleaning on the farm - EIP-AGRI Rhizo-Linse project - 16/03/2022
Lentils are among the oldest crop plants in Central European agriculture and were once a popular food in ancient Egypt, Persia and Mesopotamia. The legume was widespread in Germany until the mid-20th century, but has since disappeared completely from farmers’ fields. Over the past decade, lentils have reappeared as a crop grown locally and are cultivated in harmony with nature.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/lentils-return-heckengaeu-region
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Filament winding technology for sustainable construction - 06/04/2022
One of the greatest challenges in the construction industry is the transition to more environmentally friendly and resource-saving buildings. Researchers at the University of Stuttgart are combining state-of-the-art robotic filament winding technologies with ancient local crops to produce stable and sustainable lightweight structures from flax fibres.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/robotic-building-natural-fibres
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Alternative foodstuff ? - 09/03/2022
If there were a competition for the ‘crop of the future’, hemp would certainly be at the top. But not because of the intoxicating effect of some hemp varieties. Cannabis has the potential to help supply protein in the quantities required by a growing world population – in a sustainable way. The TASTINO project brings together researchers from academia and industry to work on ways to make the regional superfood available as a vegan alternative.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/hemp-regional-superfood-and-valuable-source-protein
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Press release - 02/03/2022
The Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector is funding the KoalAplan project, which extends the functional scope of a wastewater treatment plant. The project, based in the Stuttgart district of Büsnau, aims at recovering raw materials from wastewater and is therefore making a positive contribution to climate neutrality, as the products obtained replace fossil raw materials and energy-intensive processes.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/biorefinery-project-koalaplan-extracting-raw-materials-wastewater
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Press release - 06/04/2022
The University of Stuttgart is contributing to innovations for climate protection as part of the EU project "Smart Circular Bridge". An old material is being rediscovered: flax has been with us for thousands of years in the form of clothing, sacks, and robust ship's ropes. Now the plant fibres are experiencing a renaissance and could become the building material of the future.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/high-tech-bruecke-mit-flachs-gebaut
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Press release - 02/03/2022
The Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector is funding the new research project RoKKa which is used to prove the viability of recovering raw materials from wastewater. This adds a crucial function to the scope of a conventional sewage treatment plant. Together with the operators of the sewage treatment plants in Erbach and Neu-Ulm, the project partners demonstrate the positive contribution towards climate protection…
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/die-klaeranlage-der-zukunft-heisst-bioraffinerie
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pre-start-up company Wheyfinery - 13/04/2022
There is not much you can do with acid whey, which is why several million litres of it are disposed of every year. This is both costly and not sustainable. However, researchers at Tübingen University have shown: acid whey can be used to produce precursors for biofuels, fine chemicals and antimicrobial livestock feed additives. They have set up the pre-start-up company Wheyfinery in an endeavour to make their scalable biorefinery concept…
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/acid-whey-valuable-raw-material-platform-chemicals-and-more
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Renaturalised peatlands as carbon dioxide stores - 14/06/2022
All intact peatlands on our planet store twice the amount of CO2 as all forests. Peatlands are indispensable for preventing and mitigating the effects of climate change. The only problem is that 95 percent of Germany's peatlands have been drained, and thus release around 7 percent of Germany’s total CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Rewetting is therefore imperative for the climate, the environment and biodiversity – and economically…
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/peatlands-climate-protection-factor-binding-co2-instead-releasing-it
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Press release - 20/05/2022
The construction industry consumes large amounts of energy resources and produces tons of waste. At the Solar Decathlon Europe 21/22 university competition, students and researchers from KIT are eager to demonstrate that the building sector is already compatible with a functioning circular economy. The task of the interdisciplinary “RoofKIT” team is to convert previously unused roofs of buildings into usable spaces.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/roofkit-how-build-recycling-oriented-and-sustainable-way
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Project BW2Pro - 29/08/2022
In 2020, Germany’s population collected over 5 million tonnes of biowaste. Most of this was composted, and some was fermented into biogas. Scientists in Baden-Württemberg think there's room for more. Within the project ‘Biowaste to Products’ (BW2Pro) they want to transform biowaste into new products in a biorefinery. The idea is to produce biodegradable plant pots, mulch material, fertilisers, enzymes and biobased plastics in addition to…
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/biowaste-products-biorefinery-transforms-biowaste-new-products
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Sustainable nutrition - 05/09/2022
Insects on the dinner plate? Some people instantly dismiss the idea. Wrongly so, because in terms of animal welfare, ecological footprint and healthy nutrition, insect foods are much better than all other animal foods and are produced in a more controlled way. The fact that they can also taste really good is proven by the start-up Beneto Foods from Albstadt, which has developed protein-rich pasta in various flavours using cricket flour.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/insect-pasta-eating-healthily-and-improving-world-same-time
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Dossier - 19/10/2022
Strawberries in winter and imported apples? You can find them in most supermarkets. This is not sustainable. Looking to the future, the way we eat needs to change in many mundane ways – and this needs to happen quickly so that future generations will also be able to enjoy a planet that is worth living on. In Baden-Württemberg, alternative nutrition concepts are being worked at pace. Many creative ideas and innovative products already exist.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/dossiers/more-food-sustainability-crucial-people-and-environment
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Press release - 06/10/2022
Basic chemicals, which are needed as raw materials for a wide range of products such as medicines and detergents, can currently only be produced with an enormously high input of energy and raw materials. In many cases, fossil fuels and raw materials are still used. The extraction of chemical substances alone requires high temperatures, expensive catalysts made of precious metals and, in some cases, environmentally harmful starting materials.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/neue-elektrolyseverfahren-fuer-eine-nachhaltige-chemische-produktion
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Press release - 29/09/2022
Fossil raw materials are limited and not available and extractable everywhere in the world – as we are becoming acutely aware of right now by the example of fossil fuels and rising energy prices. Renewable raw material sources will therefore play an increasingly important role in the future: as energy sources, but ideally also as suppliers of building blocks for more environmentally compatible chemicals and materials.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/algen-als-mikroskopische-bioraffinerien
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Press release - 02/11/2022
Whether in drinking water, food or even in the air: plastic is a global problem - and the full extent of this pollution may go beyond of what we know yet. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), together with partners from the Netherlands and Australia, have reviewed conventional assumptions for the transport of plastic in rivers.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/blind-spots-monitoring-plastic-waste
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Festo’s high-tech bioreactor - 10/11/2022
In future, algae could be used to produce practically everything that still requires petroleum, including plastics, fuels, medicines and food. Algae are also climate savers par excellence, because they bind ten times more CO2 than terrestrial plants. Festo, a company based in Esslingen, Germany, has developed a high-tech bioreactor that can be used to automatically cultivate the small green biofactories - and that do so a hundred times more…
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/valuable-materials-all-kinds-produced-automatically-living-cells
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Start-up 'Innovation Matters' - 19/12/2022
Saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world, because picking it involves a complex manual process. This treasure therefore comes to us mostly from countries such as Iran with poor working conditions and low wages. A start-up company called Innovation Matters from Baden-Württemberg is now developing a robot-assisted, automated process that will make saffron cultivation attractive in Germany as well as ecological and fair.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/saffron-cultivation-germany-sustainable-support-robots
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Vaccination for plants - 23/01/2023
Climate change creates stress. This provides an opportunity for pests to exploit plant weaknesses and reproduce. For the infested plant, this can be catastrophic and often fatal. But instead of continuing to protect harvest yields with toxic substances as before, the transnational DialogProTec project is now taking a completely new approach: researchers want to intervene in the communication between plants and pests to keep them healthy.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/dialogue-instead-chemical-maze-new-strategy-sustainable-crop-protection
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Valorization of biological materials - 12/01/2023
Reducing carbon dioxide emissions and the capture and utilization of CO2 are important steps towards achieving a climate-neutral and sustainable economy. Accordingly, as part of the ValBio-Urban research project, an interdisciplinary team from the University of Stuttgart is developing bioeconomic approaches to solutions that will be implemented with companies from Baden-Württemberg.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/valbio-urban-brings-bioeconomy-research-users
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Project FuTuReS - 12/12/2022
Algae are aquatic organisms that flourish in a huge variety of species. But that's not all: they are also small green mini-factories that can produce all kinds of valuable materials. All they need is water, light, CO2 and a few nutrients that can be recycled from biogas or sewage treatment plants. Researchers have now determined the optimal framework conditions and practicability of process methods for agricultural algae cultivation.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/microalgae-high-quality-products-domestic-agriculture
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Synergistic effects with microalgae and purple bacteria - 03/02/2023
A biorefinery that uses industrial wastewater and residual material streams is being built in Rheinfelden (Baden). It will have two interlinking bioreactors and will synthesize biohydrogen as well as organic basic materials such as carotenoids and proteins. SmartBioH2-BW is a pilot project run by the Urban and Industrial Biorefineries initiative and funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and Energy Sector.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/working-towards-hydrogen-economy-wastewater-biorefinery-smartbioh2-bw-project
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Press release - 08/12/2022
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has awarded the 2023 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize to Prof. Achim Menges, head of the Institute for Computational Design and Construction at the University of Stuttgart. The award, which is endowed with EUR 2.5 million, is considered by many the most important research prize in Germany.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/leibniz-preis-fuer-prof-achim-menges
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Press release - 15/12/2022
The launch of the global Nature Positive Universities initiative was announced at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15), held in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022. The University of Konstanz is one of more than one hundred universities from all five continents joining the initiative. The common goal is to address the university's own impact on nature and to identify and implement effective measures to halt and reverse the loss of…
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/verantwortung-uebernehmen-zum-schutz-der-biodiversitaet
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