ProGrün project - 30/12/2023

Using proteins extracted from grassland cuttings to produce animal feed and exploit by-product streams

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.

Alternative construction materials: mycelium-based materials - 20/12/2023

Using fungi to create sustainable and economical mycelium-based materials

Most of us see fungi as just food - and possibly pathogens. This is a mistake, because these amazing organisms are capable of much more: they grow on plant residues of all kinds, forming a dense and interconnected structure as they spread. The resulting material can be moulded into desired shapes and be turned into new sustainable and economically attractive products such as leather and polystyrene substitutes or building materials.

Facade greening with precipitation retention - 19/12/2023

Rain-retaining living walls improve the urban climate and protect against flooding

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

Copied from insects: new biological wood binder under development

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.

The AlbLavendel project - 20/11/2023

Swabian lavender cultivation: aesthetic and sustainable

Blue-violet, fragrant fields like those in Provence may soon become a common sight in the Swabian Alb. As part of the AlbLavendel project, the University of Hohenheim along with the company naturamus GmbH and the German Institutes of Textile and Fibre Research Denkendorf has started to investigate the cultivation of lavender, the production of essential oils and the use of distillation residues for producing textile fibres in the local region.

Climate-neutral wastewater treatment plants thanks to patented real-time analytics - 08/11/2023

Using AI to reduce greenhouse gases in wastewater companies

The wastewater industry is responsible for global greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of global aviation. The start-up Variolytics has found a way to significantly reduce greenhouse gases in wastewater treatment plants using real-time analytics. The patented sensor technology and AI-supported process optimisation offer multiple benefits: in addition to reducing nitrous oxide, the system helps to reduce energy costs and resources.

Wasser 3.0: #detect|remove|reuse - 31/10/2023

How to sustainably remove and recycle microplastics from water

We all pollute our water with things we use in our everyday lives. In the process, microplastics and micropollutants accumulate in sometimes significant quantities and are difficult to remove. This has increasingly devastating consequences for our health and the environment. Wasser 3.0, a non-profit start-up from Karlsruhe, has declared war on this problem by developing a customisable process to detect, remove and even recycle these pollutants.

Textiles are a given in civil engineering. Until now, textiles made of resistant synthetic fibers have been used for this purpose, having a long lifetime. For some applications, however, it would not only be sufficient but even desirable for the auxiliary textile to degrade when it has done its job. Natural fibers, in contrast, often decompose too quickly. The DITF are developing a bio-based protective coating that extends their service life.

Doubling food production, saving water, and increasing carbon storage capacity – this may sound paradoxical, but would be theoretically feasible. Reaching this goal, however, would require a radical spatial reorganization of land use. This is the conclusion of researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology (HeiGIT) of Heidelberg University.

Researchers at the University of Hohenheim are working on an alternative to fish consisting of microalgae. Advantage: Microalgae have high quality ingredients and also contribute to carbon storage.

Preventing waste from instant meals - 05/10/2023

EDGGY: edible packaging film made from eggshell waste

Many instant meals such as ramen soups have both a protective outer packaging and individual ingredients in small plastic sachets. To prevent this environmentally harmful waste, five students at the University of Hohenheim have developed a sustainable film based on eggshells and plant proteins that dissolves in hot water and is edible.

Researchers at the University of Freiburg quantify the amount of material needed to enable people to live without poverty. 1.2 billion people live in poverty. To lift them out of it, an average of about six tons of raw materials are needed per person and year – in particular minerals, fossil fuels, biomass and metal ores. This is the result of a study by researchers from the Chair of Sustainable Energy and Material Flow Management.

Mobile units for processing fruit and vegetables on-site may play an important role in food supply in 2035. The EU’s FOX project investigated the form that such local food chains might take. To this end, Fraunhofer ISI developed future scenarios that could be used to test the viability of business models for regional food processing and distribution.

The Cultivated B (TCB) began discussions with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and officially entered the pre-submission process for novel food approval of a novel or non-farmed sausage product. Subsequent to the official submission, TCB will emerge as world’s first biotech company to apply for EFSA certification for cultivated meat. This is a pivotal first step in the evolution of the cultivated meat market.

Germany has the most active market, Southern Europe wants more variety, and people in Poland find dairy substitutes too expensive, according to a recent study by the University of Hohenheim.

Konstanz chemists develop mineral plastics with numerous positive properties from sustainable basic building blocks and, together with biologists, demonstrate the material's excellent microbiological degradability.

Industrial biocatalysis with enzymes is deemed to be a “game changer” in the development of a sustainable chemical industry. Enzymes can be used to synthesize an impressive range of complex molecules. Researchers of KIT have now developed a new class of materials by producing enzyme foams of tremendous stability and activity. The researchers have already filed a patent application on the process to produce enzyme foams.

Can biosurfactants increase microbiological oil degradation in North Sea seawater? An international research team from the universities of Stuttgart und Tübingen, together with the China West Normal University and the University of Georgia, have been exploring this question and the results have revealed the potential for a more effective and environmentally friendly oil spill response.

As the world's population continues to grow, the construction industry faces the challenge of using fewer resources and switching to sustainable materials. Scientists from the Universities of Stuttgart and Freiburg are developing new interdisciplinary approaches to construction for the future.

Insightful study with participation from the University of Konstanz warns of human-induced impacts on the marine ecosystem.

Innovative materials - 14/06/2023

Reinventing ‘wood’ with programmable bacteria

Conserving wood by producing furniture and other objects from wood-based materials with the help of microorganisms? That is exactly what a team of researchers from the University of Freiburg and the Leibniz Institute for New Materials (INM) in Saarbrücken is working on in the DELIVER project. The aim is to create a database of materials with a broad range of controllable properties for various applications that can be produced from wood waste.

Team of Freiburg researchers shows how information about the quantity of absorbed light passes from the leaves to the roots. Plant growth is driven by light and supplied with energy through photosynthesis by green leaves. It is the same for roots that grow in the dark – they receive the products of photosynthesis, in particular sucrose, i.e. sugar, via the central transportation pathways of phloem.

Daisies, peas, canola, etc.: Researchers at the University of Hohenheim want to replace gluten protein with new alternatives. Instead of ovens, 3-D printers would be possible

3D-Thermocell project - 17/05/2023

Paper instead of plastic: sustainable packaging with a good conscience

Replacing plastic – for example in packaging – is not that easy but nevertheless urgently needed. In the 3D-Thermocell project, researchers at DHBW Karlsruhe are currently developing new plastic substitute products made of thermoformable paper as a renewable resource, which should be cheap and light and easy to dispose of along with waste paper. The characterisation and application of demonstration models will start soon.

This year's Venice Architecture Biennale sees itself as a "Laboratory of the Future". Bio-composites are not just dreams of the future in architecture. The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) have developed a sustainable material for support profiles and connecting nodes, which will be on display at Palazzo Mora during the Biennale from May 20 to November 26.

Diatoms as a biorefinery - 05/05/2023

Microalgae: sustainable chemical production in a mini factory

Renewable raw materials that can be used as alternatives to fossil resources already exist. However, to turn them into everyday products, plant oils and other renewable raw materials not only have to be extracted, but often have to undergo complex chemical processing. Researchers at the University of Konstanz have now converted microalgae cells into tiny refineries to produce and upgrade raw materials, creating a supply of sustainable chemicals.

At the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP in Leuna, Germany, representatives from politics, research and industry opened a novel pilot plant for the mild processing of rapeseed to increase the added-value potential of rape as a raw material.

Sustainability is a major challenge in the food and packaging industry. Plastic packaging is being replaced by organic-based and biodegradable materials, but it must still fulfill high functional requirements. A team of researchers at the University of Hohenheim has developed a new coating system that is both water-impermeable, heat-resistant, and mechanically durable as well as being suitable for consumption, and biodegradable at the same time.

Ready-made meals are ideal for quickly satisfying hunger. However, the quick snacks produce a lot of environmentally harmful plastic waste. To tackle this problem, the student team EDGGY from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart rolled up its sleeves and developed edible packaging made from eggshells and other plant-based raw materials. And even better: they simply dissolve in the hot water and can be eaten as an additional protein boost.

In collaboration with the project partners CG TEC, Cordenka, ElringKlinger, Fiber Engineering and Technikum Laubholz, the DITF are developing a new fiber composite material (CELLUN) with reinforcing fibers made of cellulose. The matrix of the material is a thermoplastic cellulose derivative. CELLUN made from renewable biopolymers enables the replacement of glass or carbon fibers in the production of industrial molded parts.

Composite materials provide stability in aircraft parts, sports equipment, and everyday household items. However, most of these materials have a poor carbon footprint and are not naturally degradable. A more sustainable alternative has been developed by a team from the University of Stuttgart. This completely bio-based composite material is made of flax fibers and the biopolymer chitosan.

Sustainable construction - 28/03/2023

Digital manufacturing processes enable buildings to be constructed with flax and willow

A switch to sustainable and circular construction concepts is needed to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the construction sector. At the German National Garden Show (Bundesgartenschau) in Mannheim, FibR GmbH, together with researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, will be showcasing two innovative buildings made from flax and willow, renewable raw materials that exemplify possible building concepts of the future.

A novel, both environmentally friendly and cost-saving process for the production of carbon fibers from lignin has been developed at DITF. It is characterized by high energy-saving potential. The avoidance of solvents and the use of natural raw materials make the process environmentally friendly.

In February, the Estonian-based startup New Standard Oil successfully commissioned their first industrial-scale prototype for drying and torrefaction of biogenic feedstock operating with superheated steam at atmospheric pressure.

The Tech4Biowaste database will be showcased online by its developers on 30 March 2023

Start for an EU-wide collaborative project: Under the leadership of the French company Fairbrics SAS, 17 project partners from 7 European countries are coming together. The common goal is to produce end products from polyester in a closed cycle using industrial CO2 emissions and to bring them to market maturity. The DITF produce synthetic fibers from plastics of non-fossil origin.

nova-Institute’s take on the recently published EU proposal for a Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation as well as the new policy framework for biobased, biodegradable and compostable plastics.

Around 7 million euros to promote more sustainable use of the world's limited phosphate supply: The German-Chinese Research Training Group AMAIZE-P can continue its research on phosphorus as one of the most important nutrient elements for plants. The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved a second funding period of another 4.5 years.

Synergistic effects with microalgae and purple bacteria - 03/02/2023

Working towards a hydrogen economy with a wastewater biorefinery: the SmartBioH2-BW project

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.

A polyester plastic of great mechanical stability, which is also easily recyclable and even compostable: Stefan Mecking, chemist at the University of Konstanz, and his research group present a new material.

Start-up 'Innovation Matters' - 19/12/2022

Saffron cultivation in Germany - sustainable with support from robots

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.

Project FuTuReS - 12/12/2022

Microalgae - high-quality products for domestic agriculture?

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.

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.

European Bioplastics (EUBP) begrüßt die von der Europäischen Kommission verabschiedeten Entwürfe für neue Verpackungs- und Biokunststoffvorschriften. „Wir begrüßen das erste umfassende politische Rahmenwerk der Kommission für innovative Biokunststoffe, das deren Potenzial für einen positiven Beitrag zur Umwelt anerkennt.

Find companies that already offer fossil carbon free products, made from biomass, CO2 and recycling

With insects to the circular economy - 30/11/2022

InBiRa: Insect biorefinery turns food leftovers into new products

Insect larvae can convert food leftovers and waste into secondary raw materials for technical products and cosmetics. Researchers are looking to establish an insect biorefinery for this purpose at the Fraunhofer IGB in Stuttgart. The InBiRa project is financed with a total of 3.8 million euros in EU and Baden-Württemberg state funding.

BioMonitor addresses the information gap in bioeconomy research by re-structuring existing data and modelling framework. After more than four years of great scientific collaboration, the 17 partners share their results.

A tasty dish for chickens: Researchers from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart were able to feed the animals the first 50 kilos of protein extract that were obtained from pasture. Yet the plants found in fields and meadows offer much more than a new source of protein for pigs and poultry: They could also constitute an alternative to soy for human nutrition. They also form a basis for organic-based plastics and paper, energy, and…

Chemical building blocks from plastic waste; Reducing the risk of falls using virtual orientation aids: Konstanz chemists Manuel Häußler and Lukas Odenwald as well as sport scientist Lorenz Assländer receive Baden-Württemberg prototype funding for their transfer projects "Waste2DCA" and "Augmented Balance".

Optical technologies & artificial intelligence: University of Hohenheim, Bosch, Amazonen-Werke, and BASF Digital Farming conducts research into high-performance sensors for smart herbicide treatment

The Carl Zeiss Foundation is funding the "DELIVER - Data-driven Engineering of Sustainable Living Materials" project at the University of Freiburg in its "CZS Wildcard" program. In the project, scientists from the Freiburg Clusters of Excellence CIBSS and livMatS will develop sustainable wood-based materials whose properties can be precisely controlled.

Dossier - 19/10/2022

More food sustainability: crucial for people and for the environment

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.

Across the EU, more than 300 billion items of packaging are not recycled every year because they consist of a mixture of different materials. Monomaterial packaging on the other hand is easy to recycle. However, it needs to be coated with ultra-thin barrier layers to protect delicate products just as well as compound materials do.

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.

Büsnau biorefinery - 05/10/2022

KoalAplan: municipal wastewater as a source of recyclable materials

Our wastewater not only contains dirt and excretions, but is also rich in carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, which can be recovered. A sewage plant can thus become a source of raw materials. In the KoalAplan project, a new type of biorefinery will be used to convert the carbon recovered from wastewater into sustainable products.

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.

In its statement of September 2, 2022, the Bioeconomy Council of the German government condemns the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine and points out ways in which the resulting food and energy crisis can be alleviated with the help of the bioeconomy.

Project BW2Pro - 29/08/2022

Biowaste to Products: biorefinery transforms biowaste into new products

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…

Paludiculture as a beacon of hope for the climate - 28/06/2022

Peatlands as CO2 reservoirs: simultaneous renaturation and use

Peatlands store more carbon dioxide than any other ecosystem in the world. However, when drained, they become a climate-damaging source of CO2. The management of wet peatlands reveals exciting solutions, with market potential in the areas of local heating, insulation, packaging and even peat substitution.

Lentil cultivation in a producers’ association - EIP-AGRI Rhizo-Linse project - 23/05/2022

From cultivation to market – lentils from the Swabian Alb

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.

Mini-factories for producing bioplastics - 05/05/2022

Bacteria produce bioplastics: resource-saving and very environmentally friendly

Using living cells as mini-factories to produce plastic from nothing more than water, sunlight and carbon dioxide; plastic that is also 100 percent degradable – it sounds far-fetched but it actually works: researchers at the University of Tübingen have genetically engineered cyanobacteria so that they fill their cells to the brim with polyhydroxybutyrate. The researchers are now turning the idea into reality with the development of pilot plants.

ProteinDistillery GmbH - 20/04/2022

Using microorganisms to create a source of sustainable protein

Yeast has been part of the human diet for thousands of years. ProteinDistillery GmbH now wants to revolutionise the environmentally friendly protein suppliers market by introducing brewer's yeast and secure the protein supply of the future.

pre-start-up company Wheyfinery - 13/04/2022

Acid whey as a valuable raw material for platform chemicals and more

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…

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.

European collaborative project led by the University of Hohenheim shows: Combining bioethanol production with carbon storage can effectively reduce CO2.

The "carbonauten minus CO2 factory 1" will start production of 4,000 t of CO2-reducing plastic granules annually at favorable prices in summer 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.

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…

The annual highlight of the industry is the International Conference on Cellulose Fibres in Cologne (www.cellulose-fibres.eu), where the latest innovations were showcased last week: new cellulose fibre technologies for various feedstocks and a wide range of hygiene and textile products as well as alternatives to plastics and carbon fibre for lightweight constructions.

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.

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…

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…

For the second time, the nova Institute for Ecology and Innovation is honouring outstanding scientific research that provides sustainable solutions for the cellulose fibre value chain as part of the "International Conference on Cellulose Fibres 2022". The DITF Denkendorf is one of the six nominees.