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.

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).

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.

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 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.

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.

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…

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.

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.

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.

Degradable biopolymers - 29/05/2020

Bioplastics make wood cycles more sustainable

Innovative technologies and bacteria can transform wood residues into sustainable bioplastic packaging. Before bioplastics are broken down into CO2 and water in an environmentally friendly way, they can thus lead lives as products in the cosmetics industry, for example.

Dossier - 15/04/2019

The alternative: “bioplastics”

Plastic waste takes years to decompose and pollutes the environment. Nevertheless, plastics are an indispensable part of everyday life. It is therefore all the more important to find a meaningful alternative that is sustainable, environmentally friendly and has better properties and more functionality than conventional plastics. In addition, such an alternative should not be dependent in any way on fossil resources.

Dossier - 04/03/2019

Sustainable textiles

Baden-Württemberg is known for innovation in textiles and for playing a decisive role in the development of sustainable textiles for the future both in the clothing and the booming technical textile sectors. Companies and research institutes are focused on making the entire textile value chain from raw materials, production and useful life to disposal more sustainable than ever before.

Article - 11/02/2019

Natural biopolymers - the sustainable almost-all-rounders

Wood pulp as well as hemp and flax are renewable raw materials that can be processed into fibres of a new performance class using innovative technologies. They are environmentally friendly and help to solve waste problems. Products and processes for these fibres of the future are being developed at the DITF Denkendorf. They are suitable for textile and technical applications.