Bioeconomy

Overview

Bioenergy

Examples of fuels produced from biomass are biomethane, renewable natural gas (RNG), biogenic hydrogen, biokerosene, biomethanol, bioethanol and higher alcohols. However, in future, care must be taken to avoid the well-documented conflict between crops used for food and those used for fuel production. The bioeconomy strategy therefore calls for only using the biomass that cannot be used for producing food. Microalgae, biowaste and residual…

Overview

Biobased resources

A major goal of the bioeconomy is to use larger quantities of biobased raw materials to produce energy, transport fuels and feedstock for industrial processes. This requires detailed analyses, simulations, concepts and processes. Major focus needs to be placed on issues relating to crop production, biomass potentials, land surface requirements, conversion technologies, biobased value creation networks and food security. Agriculture, forestry,…

Overview

Materials and chemicals

Biomass can be used to produce chemicals, fibres, pigments and plastics. These products are either identical to their petroleum-based counterparts or have completely new properties. Biorefineries will play a key role in the transition to a bioeconomy. There is great expectation placed on the potential ability to convert the countless carbon compounds in biomass into chemicals and material components.

Overview

Politics, ethics and economy

Agricultural land on Earth is limited. However, the increased need for food and feed coupled with the increasing use of biomass feedstocks leads to areas of conflict such as intensive farming, biodiversity loss, land grabbing and indirect land use change. Governments are faced with the major challenge of having to deal with and shape the bioeconomy while taking equally into account the ecological, economic and ethical concerns and integrating…

Overview

Baden-Württemberg and its companies

Bioeconomy refers to the sustainable management of renewable natural resources, which is why there is no such thing as a bioeconomy industry in the traditional sense. However, there are companies in Baden-Württemberg that use biomass as raw material base and have already developed products and processes in their effort to act more sustainably

Overview

Bioeconomy in Baden-Württemberg

Major impulses for the transition to a bioeconomy must come from the international and national level. This has been the case for Europe and Germany and is driven forward by programmes that have been launched by national and European governments

Overview

What is a bioeconomy?

The bioeconomy, or biobased economy, is a new model for industry and the economy. It involves using renewable biological resources sustainably to produce food, energy and industrial goods. It also exploits the untapped potential stored within millions of tons of biological waste and residual materials.

Article - 01/06/2015

Cyanobacteria: real all-rounders – biofuel producers and climate savers

Prof. Dr. Annegret Wilde and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hess from the Institute of Biology III at the University of Freiburg have been using the versatile cyanobacteria for quite some time. The two researchers are part of the project "Cyanosys - Systems biology of cyanobacterial biofuel production", which aims to use cyanobacteria for the large-scale production of biofuels from sunlight and carbon dioxide.

Article - 01/12/2014

wusoa GmbH: What shall we do with manure? Liquid manure for decentralized small-scale biogas plants.

Biogas has become an alternative and sustainable energy resource. In 2013, the 7,850 biogas plants in Germany – including 858 in Baden-Württemberg – produced enough biogas to cover around seven percent of Germany’s total electricity needs. Martin Falger, managing director of wusoa GmbH in Stuttgart, explained in an interview with Sanja Fessl (BIOPRO) why he believes that small-scale biogas plants have a promising future. They expand the biogas…

Article - 03/11/2014

Modern biogas plant in a picturesque landscape

Biogas plants have become well-known sights throughout Germany and are usually built according to standardised concepts. The biogas plant that is currently being constructed in the village of Zermatt below the Matterhorn presented the GICON Großmann Ingenieur Consult GmbH planners with a particular challenge. The geographical and climatic conditions of the area and seasonal waste variations due to seasonally fluctuating tourist numbers required…

The performance and application range of biobased lubricants is growing ever broader. Several biolubricants have been placed on the market, including plant-oil based products and synthetic plant-based lubricants. In this article, Rolf Luther from FUCHS EUROPE SCHMIERSTOFFE GmbH in Mannheim talks about the technical properties and potential application areas of biolubricants, some of which have been shown to be superior to conventional crude…

Dossier - 30/09/2014

Industrial biotechnology: a challenging change to the raw material base

Biogenic raw materials have never been as popular as they are now. Efforts to tap renewable carbon resources are already underway, despite the fact that new oil drilling technologies are boosting fossil fuel stockpiles. In the medium term, industry will have to expand its raw materials base, and in the long term it may have to renew it completely. Industrial biotechnology is one of the key technologies in the transition from an economy based on…

Article - 22/09/2014

Heike Frühwirth brings engineering methods into the hype about algae

Heike Frühwirth is not terribly taken by the euphoria surrounding the potential of algae. She knows better as she has become aware of the potential pitfalls from her own personal experience. Frühwirth was born in the Austrian city of Graz where she also studied process engineering. She has been in charge of process engineering under the industrial biotechnology study programme at Biberach University of Applied Sciences since 2012. She specializes…

Dossier - 09/12/2013

Industrial biotechnology – biological resources for industrial processes

Industrial or white biotechnology uses microorganisms and enzymes to produce goods for industry, including chemicals, plastics, food, agricultural and pharmaceutical products and energy carriers. Renewable raw materials and increasingly also waste from agriculture and forestry are used for the manufacture of industrial goods.

Article - 21/10/2013

Land use – balance between societal demands and environmental protection

The conversion of undeveloped land into residential areas and roads in Baden-Württemberg has in fact fallen by fifty percent in the past ten years, but there is still a long way to go before land management becomes sustainable. Detailed studies on the changing conditions of land use are necessary in order to develop practical concepts for environmentally compatible planning.

Dossier - 23/09/2013

Bioeconomy: a new model for industry and the economy

On the one hand, a bioeconomy relies on renewable resources to meet society’s need for food, energy and industrial products. On the other, it emphasises the role of biogenic material flows. The bioeconomy model is expected to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels in the long term. In order to implement the shift from a fossil-based economy to a biobased economy on the regional level, the Baden-Württemberg government launched the Bioeconomy…

Article - 16/09/2013

Biomass conversion – KIT method takes a pragmatic path

“We can do in ten minutes what nature took millions of years to complete,” said Henning Bockhorn from the Engler-Bunte Institute at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) referring to a method which his team developed for the energy supplier Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW). The patented method enables biomass to be converted into a material similar to brown coal. The method is known as “biomass steam processing” (BSP) and is currently being…

Article - 31/05/2013

Research in Biberach – does the bioeconomy have a purple future?

Rhodospirillum rubrum bacteria have long attracted the interest of biotechnologists due to their ability to produce large quantities of pigments. Microbiologist Hartmut Grammel from Biberach University of Applied Sciences and scientists from the Magdeburg-based Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems are studying the bacterias suitability for the fixation of CO2 with the distant objective of producing organic materials with…

Article - 21/05/2013

Green coal from plants – CO2 neutral and infinite

It is just a matter of time before coal and oil will run out. However, there are, it would seem, ways to counteract this situation. Plants can be turned into fossil energy carriers, with the added advantage that the combustion of plants on average only releases as much CO2 as the plants have previously absorbed from the atmosphere. Professor Andrea Kruse from the University of Hohenheim is developing methods for using whole green plants for the…

Article - 25/02/2013

Microalgae can produce more than just fuel

Microalgae have played an important role as animal feed or food supplements for decades. They can also produce complex chemical compounds. This so-called material use of microalgae is already a major economic sector. However, when it comes to algal biotechnology, they are almost universally seen as just energy sources.

Article - 18/02/2013

Biotechnology in Biberach: a success story that breaks new ground

At its New Year reception Biberach University of Applied Sciences outlined the universitys success the establishment of its biotechnology programme is going smoothly and student interest remains steady. Biberach also has a successful track record of acquiring third-party funding and has established new national and international cooperations.

Article - 14/01/2013

Novel bioreactor and sponges that thin out light

Microalgae are veritable treasure troves. The cosmetics food and chemical industries already use algal metabolic products for various applications. In future the green unicellular organisms might also be grown on a large scale in photobioreactors installed on fallow land where they will be used as regenerative sources of energy. Mark Fresewinkel from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT is involved in a cooperative project aimed at…

Article - 29/10/2012

Hydrocarbons 3.0 – European Union decides to focus on bioeconomy

Industry is being greened. The EU has put in place schemes to boost the bioeconomy Germany Finland Norway Denmark and the Netherlands are working hard on bioeconomy strategies. Even regional stakeholders are developing concepts aimed at supporting the bioeconomy. Things are moving in the right direction.

Dossier - 10/09/2012

Horizon 2020 – the EU framework programme for research and innovation – a boost for top-level research in Europe

In the face of the ongoing financial crisis Europe is working on a new research strategy that is aimed at creating new economic growth and jobs. The new EU framework programme for research and innovation Horizon 2020 replaces the 7th Framework Programme FP7 and will run from 2014 with a budget of 80 billion. In July 2012 Brussels launched the final FP7 calls for proposals for 2013 that offer numerous market-based instruments designed to bridge…