Chemistry

Bacteria and fungi have long been important tools for the chemical company BASF to make the chemical industry more sustainable. With their help, renewable raw materials such as glucose can be converted into bio-based and environmentally friendly products through fermentation. The new fermentation plant at the BASF site in Ludwigshafen is therefore a further step for the listed company in the planned conversion of its production processes towards sustainability.

For numerous species of living organisms, the climate crisis will lead to environmental conditions that they will not be able to survive. Microalgae could fare differently, as a study by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, the University of Würzburg and the University of East Anglia (UEA) has now shown. According to the study, the unicellular organisms can adapt to nutrient deficiencies, such as those to be expected in warming seas, with the help of a light-driven proton pump.

Not releasing carbon dioxide from industrial processes into the atmosphere, but upgrading it chemically, this approach is intended to make a small contribution to the climate neutrality of the economy. Compared to possible eternal storage facilities for CO₂, this is also economically interesting because no disposal costs are incurred and a profit can even be made. Accordingly, intensive research is being conducted on appropriate CO₂ utilisation processes.

Whether in food packaging, cosmetics, pesticides or outdoor textiles: per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances – PFAS for short – are contained in many products. These industrially produced chemicals are not only particularly resistant to oil and water, but also to temperatures and chemicals. As diverse as the applications of PFASs are, these substances are equally dangerous when they enter the environment, where they cannot be degraded naturally. PFASs have been detected in more than 70% of groundwater monitoring wells in the EU.

Alongside wind and solar energy, the production of biogas is an important pillar for becoming independent of fossil fuels. With currently around 9,600 biogas plants, Germany is the world's largest producer of biogas. Plant or animal residues are fermented into biogas with the help of anaerobic bacteria. However, the potential of the plants is far from being exhausted.

With the ERC Starting Grants, the European Research Council annually funds outstanding research projects by excellent young scientists at the beginning of their careers. The researchers' projects are supported with a total of 1.5 million euros over a period of five years. One of those who was able to acquire the coveted funding is Markus Jeschek from the University of Regensburg. The professor of synthetic microbiology is receiving the funding for the project "Biosensing by Sequence-based Activity Inference" - BiosenSAI for short.

Food packaging is designed to protect food so that it remains edible and reaches the consumer undamaged. Until now, petroleum-based plastics have mostly been used for this purpose. Yet the trend away from fossil raw materials also poses new challenges for the packaging industry. Sustainable alternatives are needed to conserve resources and protect the environment.

Microorganisms such as bacteria, yeasts or molds are masters of material conversion and have always been an important tool in biotechnology. With their help, materials can be produced that are naturally biobased and biodegradable - bioplastics, for example. But not all bacteria of interest to biotechnology work as desired, because they are difficult to "tame." Researchers at the Institute of Microbiology and Molecular Biology at Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) have now found a way to achieve this by controlling their gene expression.

Even in remote parts of the world, such as the Arctic, researchers now find microplastic particles. But the tiny plastic particles don't just float in the water and harm marine animals and ecosystems. The particles also enter the atmosphere via wind and waves, as a study by a German-Norwegian research team shows.