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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Residual materials with potential - 16/03/2023

PeePower™ – energy from urine

The objective of the PeePower™ BUGA 2023 collaborative research project is to produce green hydrogen and platform chemicals from wastewater. This fits in nicely with BUGA 2023’s (German National Garden Show) four major themes, namely, climate, energy, environment and food security.

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.

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.

Tübingen biotechnologist Lars Angenent is being awarded the Leibniz Prize by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in appreciation of his outstanding work in the field of environmental biotechnology, it was announced in Bonn on Thursday. The DFG said: “In view of climate change and the resulting need to develop a sustainable food, chemistry and energy economy, his work is highly relevant.”

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.

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…

Sustainable nutrition - 05/09/2022

Insect pasta: eating healthily and improving the world at the same time

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.

In Provence, the lavender fields are in full bloom again. This blaze of color may soon also be seen in Baden-Württemberg. In a joint research project, the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF), the University of Hohenheim and the company naturamus are testing suitable lavender varieties and developing energy-efficient methods for producing essential oil from them.

Lentil cleaning - EIP-AGRI Rhizo-Linse project - 26/04/2022

Lentil cleaning in the Altdorf mill

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.

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 HUEHOCO GROUP Holding GmbH & Co. KG, a family-owned company from Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, has acquired a 5 percent stake in carbonauten GmbH. The start-up is in negotiations with further interested parties from Germany and Japan. With the international metal strip refiner HUEHOCO Group, which has sites on 4 continents, the "minus CO2 factory" has acquired its first industrial partner.

Plant residues - 14/12/2021

Straw pulp: agricultural residues become sanitary paper products

Straw cannot yet be spun into gold, but in Mannheim, Germany, it is being turned into something else of great value: Essity is the first and only company in Europe to produce toilet paper and kitchen rolls from wheat straw in a new pulp mill. From next year, these sustainable sanitary paper products will be found on supermarket shelves.

Further utilisation of plant residues - 25/11/2021

Novel fibre composite made from hop fermentation residues

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.

Upcycling of lignin - 26/10/2021

Bioeconomic model project: vanillin from process industry residues

Extracting vanillin from lignin dissolved in black liquor and developing it into a process that can be scaled up for industry is a bioeconomic approach that researchers at Biberach University of Applied Sciences and Ulm University are pursuing in a five-year project.

Hygiene and health company Essity is today presenting a breakthrough in sustainable tissue production and is beginning production based on pulp from wheat straw. The plant in Mannheim, Germany, is the first of its kind in Europe, and the first on a large-scale tissue production in the world.

Start-up PROSERVATION - sustainable packaging - 21/09/2021

Husk as a substitute for polystyrene: packaging materials with a good conscience

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Qualitative soil fertiliser - 10/07/2020

How natural cycles can be closed with wood ash

Recycled material instead of waste: wood ash is good for soil and plants - if the quality is right. The German Federal Quality Association for Food Ash ensures reliable wood ash standards with its certifications. The RAL-Dünger label for fertilisers provides the necessary certification for natural wood ashes to be used in the circular economy.

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.

The “Rhizo-Lentil" EIP-AGRI project - 20/05/2020

NovoCarbo turns plant waste into biochar

NovoCarbo GmbH produces biochar from plant residues such as wood chips, nutshells and manure. Different feedstocks, and the way these materials are processed, create biochars with different properties. This makes biochar suitable for different uses, including as a soil conditioner, in biogas plants or as bedding for stables and cowsheds. The Rhizo-Linse project is currently investigating whether biochar is also suitable as inoculant carrier for…

Dossier - 28/04/2020

Sustainable bioenergy

Biomass from forestry and agriculture along with residues from industry and households can contribute to our energy and raw material shift. Sustainable, regenerative biomass-based energy can become part of the energy mix of the future within the framework of a bioeconomy.

Biogas and wood as components of the energy transition - 10/02/2020

New perspectives for bioenergy

Decentralised, controllable and stable - renewable energy is an important component in the transition to a bioeconomy without fossil fuels. BIOPRO spoke to PD Dr. Andreas Lemmer from the State Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Bioenergy at the University of Hohenheim and Prof. Dr. Stefan Pelz, scientific director of the Institute for Applied Research and professorat the University of Applied Forest Sciences Rottenburg.

Producing valuable new products from waste materials - 07/01/2020

A vision: insect biorefineries as components of a sustainable bioeconomy

Eco-friendly and responsibly manufactured products are more in demand than ever before. Specific research is being carried out into materials and applications for a wide variety of uses. The Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB is working with Hermetia Baruth GmbH on the vision of an insect biofactory that uses waste materials to produce a wide range of products such as biosurfactants, animal feed or foils.

Article - 27/05/2019

Providing Growledge - resources and products for the bioeconomy

Miscanthus and hemp are biomass plants that can be used as raw materials for a wide range of products and can be grown on land areas that are currently underutilised. A European consortium led by the University of Hohenheim in Baden-Württemberg has started a five-year project to demonstrate the economic potential of these plants.

Article - 08/05/2019

Environmentally friendly alternative to fossil natural gas: methane from biomass

In cooperation with the research unit of the German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water (DVGW), KIT researchers have built a pilot plant in which biogas produced by fermenting residual organic materials can be upgraded to synthetic methane (synthetic SNG). Biobased methane is not only a sustainable energy source for the heating and transport sectors, but also opens up new opportunities for temporary storage of renewable…

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.

Article - 27/03/2019

Residues from biogas plants as feed for algae

Algae are frugal organisms. They require only light, water, minerals and carbon dioxide to be able to produce biomass. These properties will now be exploited economically in a two-year research project. Dr. Stefan Sebök from the University of Hamburg plans to study the holistic utilisation of degradation products of a biogas plant in Wallerstädten by linking them to land-based algae cultivation.

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.

Article - 24/01/2019

Scientists to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria in wastewater

In Germany, around 1,500 tonnes of antibiotics per year are administered to humans and animals. As a result, more and more bacteria are developing resistance to common antibiotics. As part of HyReKA, a cooperative project funded by the BMBF, scientists led by Professor Thomas Schwartz from the KIT are investigating how antibiotic-resistant pathogens spread and how they can be prevented from doing so.

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.

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.

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 to a biobased economy on the regional level, the Baden-Württemberg government launched the Bioeconomy Research Strategy in summer 2013.