Chemistry

AMSilk's biotech spider silk proteins are already used in a range of products. Just last year, the world's first commercial supplier of biotech silk polymers raised a multi-million investment from new investors to expand its market presence outside Europe.

Mosquitoes can make spending time outdoors miserable - especially if you don't have a suitable insect repellent to hand. There are sprays or creams that are supposed to keep the insects away. But if you spend a lot of time outdoors, you need to renew your protection regularly. Researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have now found a way to make the protection last not just hours, but even days.

The new Packaging Act, which came into force in January 2019, paved the way for more bio-based packaging and increased recycling rates. In particular, the recycling of plastic packaging takes on a high priority. Single-use plastic products such as eating utensils or drinking straws have been banned throughout the EU since last year and have since been gradually replaced with sustainable materials. However, reusable products such as beverage bottles are also made of plastics and are largely disposed of or incinerated at the end of their life cycle.

Chemistry without hazardous waste and greenhouse gases - that is the goal of the future cluster "Electrification of Technical Organic Syntheses" (ETOS). Modern life would be completely unimaginable without chemical products, and some synthesis processes simply do not work without environmentally harmful starting materials, high energy input and expensive catalysts. The potential of organic electrosynthetic processes, on the other hand, promises more sustainable and less expensive alternatives. ETOS aims to leverage this potential.

In 2020, the bioeconomy strategy "Zukunft.Bioökonomie.Bayern" (Future.Bioeconomy.Bavaria) paved the way for a sustainable and ecologically responsible as well as socially just and thus sustainable way of life and economy in Bavaria. The use of renewable raw materials plays a central role in this.

To achieve climate targets, industry must cut emissions such as carbon dioxide. Using it as a source of raw materials therefore seems a promising way forward: using biotechnological processes, the carbon it contains can be processed into new products. An industrial consortium led by Swiss sporting goods manufacturer On is now demonstrating the potential of carbon-containing industrial waste gases and presenting Cloudprime, the first sneaker made from such carbon waste.

The German Founders' Award is one of the most prestigious business prizes in Germany. Since 1997, the trophy has been used to promote entrepreneurial achievements and business ideas that are particularly capable of meeting the challenges of the future and sustainably changing entire industries. Plastic waste is one of these global problems. With the development of a biomaterial from agricultural residues that is fully compostable and can replace conventional plastic, the Hamburg-based start-up Traceless Materials convinced the jury of the German Founders' Prize.

The disposal of solvents in the chemical industry is often problematic because many of the substances are harmful to the environment. Biobased solvents would be a good alternative, but only a small part of the 20 million tons produced annually can be called such. Researchers at the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) have found a solvent in dimethylfuran (DMF) that they can produce biobased. In a new research project, it is now to be further developed for industrial use.