Agriculture and forestry produce enormous quantities of residual materials such as hay, straw, wood or plant residues. The bioeconomy strives for the efficient and sustainable utilization of such raw materials in order to close cycles and thus conserve resources and the environment. Some of these valuable by-products of agricultural and forestry production are already being used to generate energy and materials for the production of new biobased products. However, neither the material nor the energy potential has been sufficiently exploited.
Algae biotechnology: creating profitable processes
Shifting away from fossil raw materials and toward biobased alternatives: This credo has become a matter of course in research and industry as a result of the climate crisis. From biofuels to bioplastics and biobased fine chemicals, the alternatives are proliferating - at least in theory. This is because the technically feasible processes are not always economically profitable in the end. Frequent reasons for this are insufficient product yields or overly complex purification steps.
CropEnergies focuses on biobased chemicals
Bioethanol is not only a high-quality and sustainable fuel that has accounted for five to ten percent of E10 fuel for many years. The biomass-derived molecule is also ideally suited as a feedstock for the production of biobased chemicals. With its new "Biobased Chemicals" business unit, CropEnergies therefore aims to specifically tap into new markets outside the mobility sector.
“Environmental stress causes plants to lose the ability to defend themselves”
In the course of evolution, plants have learned to communicate with their environment and protect themselves from threats. Their ability to adapt and thus survive fascinates Nicole van Dam. The biologist dedicates her research to plant biocommunication in order to make vegetable cultivation more sustainable.
Award for research on meat substitutes
Meat substitute products have long been established on the market. To encourage even more people to eat alternative meat products, the products must be able to compete with the animal original not only in terms of taste, but also texture and mouthfeel. At the TU Berlin, Anja Maria Wagemans studies the structure formation of such innovative foods. For her research, the food technologist and junior professor was awarded the Young Scientist Award, which comes with 10,000 euros in prize money. The award was presented in May by Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner.
Starch based foam film
Foamed plastics are frequently used for packaging. They are mostly made of polystyrene, polyethylene or polyurethane - and are thus ultimately based on petroleum. The production process is clearly not sustainable, and the situation is often no better at the product's end of life: After a single use, they are usually discarded - even if done correctly, foamed materials are rarely recycled today. Instead, they end up in thermal recycling.
Million euro funding for traceless
Only recently, traceless launched the biomaterial they had developed with a pilot product in the form of a sock holder. Just under three years after its founding, the young bioeconomy start-up is now going into large-scale production. The team led by traceless founders Johanna Baare and Anne Lamp has just received a grant of 5 million euros from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment.
Higher wheat yields with silicon fertilizers
In agriculture, large quantities of fertilizers are often used to increase yields per unit area. However, this practice has long been controversial because it damages soils, the environment and the climate alike. In addition, heat and drought are putting increasing pressure on soils and crops, leading to crop failures. How can we prevent soils from drying out while increasing yields to ensure food security in the future? A study led by the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) provides promising results.
Organic disposable bag made from hemp fibers impresses at the Jugend forscht competition
They are young and they have innovative ideas in store: kids and young people aged up to 21 who put their talents to the test in the STEM competition Jugend forscht. This year's winners were announced in Bremen on May 21 in the presence of the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger. A total of 173 young STEM talents qualified for this year's national finals in seven subject areas with 108 innovative research projects.
Wastewater treatment with magnetotactic bacteria
A problem with many former mines is that their floodwater is usually contaminated with heavy metals, in the case of uranium mines, for example, with uranium. Environmental biotechnology has long been developing approaches to filter out these heavy metals with the help of microorganisms. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have now discovered a promising bacterium for this purpose.