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Alternative construction materials: mycelium-based materials - 20/12/2023
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/using-fungi-create-sustainable-and-economical-mycelium-based-materials
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Sustainable binder alternative - 18/12/2023
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/copied-insects-new-biological-wood-binder-under-development
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urban BioEconomyLab - 07/12/2023
Baden-Württemberg is leading the way in the transition to a climate-neutral and sustainable economy. One of the projects undertaken is the Fraunhofer IGB’s "urban BioEconomyLab" project which aims to develop a transformation model and living laboratory to find bioeconomic solutions for the sustainable design of cities and municipal industry. What is new is that the IGB takes a systemic approach, focusing on biobased and circular value…
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/city-living-laboratory-bioeconomic-sustainable-economic-area
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The AlbLavendel project - 20/11/2023
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/swabian-lavender-cultivation-aesthetic-and-sustainable
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Press release - 02/11/2023
The Sustainability Innovation Campus (ICN) initiated by the University of Freiburg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which will begin its work in January 2024, has announced a two-year funding programme for start-up projects. Scientists from the University of Freiburg, KIT and cooperating universities and research institutions are invited to submit their project outlines by 30 November 2023.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/sustainability-innovation-campus
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Wasser 3.0: #detect|remove|reuse - 31/10/2023
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/how-sustainably-remove-and-recycle-microplastics-water
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Preventing waste from instant meals - 05/10/2023
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/edggy-edible-packaging-film-made-eggshell-waste
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Press release - 29/09/2023
The European Parliament’s amendments to the proposal for a Regulation on Artificial Intelligence (AI) may be defined as a socio-ecological turnaround compared to the European Commission’s existing draft. The parliamentary draft proposes a series of environmental and climate-related provisions which, in the Oeko-Institut’s view, are feasible and technically achievable. The Oeko-Institut has reviewed these proposals in a Policy Paper.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/ecological-alignment-artificial-intelligence
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Food of the future: new production methods - 06/09/2023
A rapidly growing world population and simultaneously rapidly shrinking arable land – these are just some of the major challenges facing the food industry. But how can solutions be found? Answers are being sought by the bioeconomy innovation space NewFoodSystems. Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), it is a network where science and industry can come together to develop sustainable food systems of the future.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/newfoodsystems-innovation-space-tomorrows-food
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Innovative materials - 14/06/2023
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/reinventing-wood-programmable-bacteria
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3D-Thermocell project - 17/05/2023
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/paper-instead-plastic-sustainable-packaging-good-conscience
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Press release - 16/05/2023
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/bioverbundwerkstoff-auf-der-architektur-biennale-venedig
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Diatoms as a biorefinery - 05/05/2023
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/microalgae-sustainable-chemical-production-mini-factory
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Press release - 25/04/2023
Roboticists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have developed a jellyfish-inspired underwater robot with which they hope one day to collect waste from the bottom of the ocean. The almost noise-free prototype can trap objects underneath its body without physical contact, thereby enabling safe interactions in delicate environments such as coral reefs. Jellyfish-Bot could become a tool for environmental remediation.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/jellyfish-robots-could-one-day-clean-worlds-oceans
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Press release - 21/04/2023
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/cellun-fiber-composite-made-biopolymers
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Press release - 30/03/2023
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.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/green-composite-material-made-flax-and-chitosan
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Press release - 16/02/2023
On February 16, 2023, Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Science, Research and the Arts, Petra Olschowski, visited the University of Freiburg. The focus of her visit was on sustainability and the transfer of knowledge. The minister learned all about how the day-to-day running of the university is becoming sustainable, and the wide-ranging climate protection and environmental safety measures. She also visited the livMatS pavilion.
https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/minister-science-visits-university-freiburg
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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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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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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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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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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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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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