BioEconomy HUB: Sugar instead of oil

The coal exit has been decided. In 2038, the extraction and use of the fossil raw material is to come to an end nationwide. This was laid down by the German government in the Coal Exit Act at the beginning of July. Regions like Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg are now facing the challenge of structural change. In Central Germany, the bioeconomy as a promising economic sector is expected to guarantee the urgently needed innovation push.

Software evaluates packaging recycling

How must certain plastic packaging be designed so that it can be easily recycled? Since the beginning of 2019, this question has been answered by software from Henkel. The company has now presented a new program version that also analyses packaging made of paper/cardboard, glass, aluminium and tinplate. The Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT tested the quality of the application.

PIK (2020): Feeding 10 billion people is possible

However, this requires a technological and socio-cultural turnaround. This includes, for example, the consistent implementation of resource-conserving agricultural methods, the reduction of food losses and, finally, dietary changes.

University of Göttingen (2020): Alternative protein sources in Western diets

Prior to the study, pasta with spirulina filling was identified as a promising product idea. Spirulina algae are protein sources that can be produced in Germany independently of usable farmland. They are a possible alternative to satisfy the increasing demand for animal proteins and yet limit livestock farming for meat production with its ecological consequences.

iDiv | UL | MLU (2020): Meta-analysis of insect populations

Over the past few years, a number of studies have been published that show dramatic declines in insect numbers through time. The most prominent, from nature reserves in Western Germany, suggested remarkable declines of flying insect biomass (>75% decrease over 27 years). This was published in 2017 and sparked a media storm suggesting a widespread “insect apocalypse”. Since then, there have been several follow-up publications from different places across the world, most showing strong declines, others less so, and some even showing increases.

acatech and Körber-Stiftung (2020): TechnikRadar

Around 2,000 people were questioned about biobased economy in a representative survey last autumn. The conclusion: the majority of Germans are in favour of bio-economic change.

IÖW (2020): Consumer survey on packaging volume

As part of the Innoredux project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) launched an online survey on packaging waste. The aim was to find out to what extent it is accepted to abstain packaging and what potential unpackaged products have.

Bacteria break down herbicides

Whether cereal, fruit or vegetable cultivation: agriculture is dependent on pesticides in many places. They should secure yields and thereby the supply of food to the people. But the use of pesticides is controversial because they not only kill off pests, but also harm people and nature. Now researchers have identified bacteria that can break down the herbicide linuron.

Extract nutrients from spent grain

During the brewing of beer, many residues accumulate. For example, an average of 20 kilograms of spent grains are produced per hectoliter of beer.  With regard to the annual beer production in Germany, this is about two million tons of spent grains and about one million tons of spent grains press water. These residues contain valuable substances, some of which are used in agriculture as animal feed, but the majority ends up in waste. Researchers want to change that.

Fungus protects algae from bacteria

In nature there is a permanent, seemingly invisible battle: Whether in the soil, in water or on our skin - microorganisms compete for nutrients almost everywhere. Some microbes use chemical weapons and secrete substances that harm other microbes. For example, bacteria of the genus Streptomyces produce azalomycins, which kill other unicellular organisms, but also cells of higher organisms such as the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. However, it has found an unusual protector, as a German research team now reports in