Machine and plant engineering
“With communication standards to a digital biotech lab”
Engineer Felix Lenk is the founder and Managing Director of SmartLab Solutions GmbH. The spin-off from Dresden University of Technology develops hardware and IT solutions for the digitalised and automated laboratory of the future. These include the ‘Sens-o-Spheres’, a mobile measuring system the size of a pea that records important process parameters such as temperature in the culture medium of a bioreactor and transmits them to a base station.
Soil research: BonaRes experts take stock
The abbreviation "BonaRes" stands for "soil as a sustainable resource for the bioeconomy". This funding initiative launched by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 2015 focuses on the sustainable use of soil as a scarce resource.
Bio-based lightweight components for vehicle construction
Whether dowels, egg spoons or armature boards: plastics are omnipresent. Because the mostly petroleum-based materials are light, durable and versatile in industry. At the same time, their production from fossil raw materials often releases large quantities of the climate-damaging greenhouse gas CO2. Experts therefore see great potential in the use of bio-based plastics in lightweight construction to reduce CO2 emissions in industry.
“Queensland pushes its Biofutures industry”
The German government has formed research alliances with the state of Queensland in northeastern Australia on future topics such as green hydrogen and the bioeconomy (e.g. Bioeconomy International). Ian O'Hara is a professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Queensland University of Technology. He led the development of the Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant (MRBPP) – a unique publicly accessible biomanufacturing pilot scale research facility.
Biodegradable muscles for robots
When one thinks of a robot, the first association is probably a machine made of metal - or for some perhaps even modern robots in plastic housing or even with artificial skin. But you probably don't associate muscles with the machine. An international team of researchers has now developed artificial muscles that enable robots to move. The special highlight: the muscles are biobased and biodegradable.
Better recycling of rotor blades
By 2045, Germany wants to become climate-neutral. This means that no more CO2 is to be emitted than can be absorbed by forests or other means. To achieve this goal, the German government is relying, among other things, on the expansion of renewable energies, and this includes wind turbines (WT). With the discontinuation of EEG subsidies last year, the first wind turbines have already been taken out of operation after 20 years. However, wind turbines contain valuable raw materials that have so far been insufficiently recycled.
Optimizing cooling appliances for recycling
Electrical appliances contain many valuable raw materials - but these are often lost at the end of the product cycle: The proportion of recycled raw materials in total production was 40% in Germany in 2016. In the "Circular by Design" project, researchers have now identified optimization opportunities using refrigerators and freezers as an example. The large-scale trial was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research with around 800,000 euros.
Clariant to build new biorefinery in Romania
Clariant, a specialty chemicals company based in Switzerland and with a demonstration plant in Straubing, Germany, will invest in a new full-scale commercial biorefinery for the production of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues using its sunliquid® technology. The new plant, with an annual production capacity of 50.000 tons, will be built in the south-western part of Romania.