Whether in cosmetics, detergents or cleaning agents: Surfactants can be found in many products. Today, however, the molecules should not only be more effective and skin-friendly than in the past, but also biodegradable and produced from renewable raw materials. Researchers in the LipoPep joint project have taken up these challenges. Under the leadership of TH Köln, research has been conducted over the past three years into how renewable raw materials from native plants such as lupins, sunflowers and rapeseed can be used to produce surfactants.

Polyesters are an important class of plastics for the textile industry. Until now, however, fossil raw materials were needed for their production. In the joint project "Threading CO2," 17 partners from seven European countries have joined forces to create an alternative. They want to produce monoethylene glycol, the starting material for polyester PET, using CO2 from industrial waste gases as a raw material.

Field robots that weed and determine the nutrient content in the soil, or drones that detect plant diseases: modern field technology with highly sensitive sensors and cameras have already made work in agriculture more efficient and sustainable. However, the technologies used in so-called precision crop farming usually operate in isolation. Due to such isolated solutions, data is lacking and the actual benefits are difficult to evaluate. The DigiMax-PA project aims to change this.

Aniline is an important component in the production of the plastic polyurethane, which is used for numerous everyday products such as mattresses or insulating materials. Until now, the chemical has been produced mainly on the basis of petroleum. Covestro, as one of the world's leading aniline producers, is breaking new ground. The Leverkusen-based materials manufacturer wants to produce the important chemical from plant biomass. The foundations for this were laid in recent years as part of the Bio4PUR and Bio4PURPro projects.

The decision to phase out coal has been made. From 2030, no more coal is to be mined in Germany. Regions like the Rhineland must therefore rethink. With the BioeconomyREVIER, the NRW state government has already set the course for a bio-based and sustainable economy in 2020. However, in order to drive structural change forward, corresponding innovations from research and development must be put into practice as quickly as possible.

Plastics are versatile and durable - but it is precisely their durability that poses a problem: petroleum-based plastics decompose only incompletely or not at all, thus polluting the environment. However, it is not yet possible to do without plastics altogether. That's why researchers around the world are looking for ways to recycle petroleum-based plastics. So far, only a small portion of the world's plastic waste is recycled. By identifying new biocatalysts, researchers have now paved the way for sustainable recycling of plastic waste.

What is the bioeconomy? In which sectors is biobased economic activity already a reality in this country? And how does the German government support this strategy for sustainable economic growth? These questions are answered in the brochure "Bioeconomy in Germany", published jointly by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).

The chemical industry still relies predominantly on petroleum as a fossil raw material, but the industry is changing: bio-based raw materials such as residual and waste materials are increasingly being used as feedstock for the manufacture of chemical products. But processing biomass is not always easy. A team led by chemical engineer Jakob Albert from the University of Hamburg wants to tackle this problem. As part of the "BioValCat" project, the researchers want to develop an industrial process to extract ingredients for the chemical industry from biomass.