Press release - 09/02/2022 Connecting fibres: The cellulose fibre industry impresses with innovation and vision The annual highlight of the industry is the International Conference on Cellulose Fibres in Cologne (www.cellulose-fibres.eu), where the latest innovations were showcased last week: new cellulose fibre technologies for various feedstocks and a wide range of hygiene and textile products as well as alternatives to plastics and carbon fibre for lightweight constructions.https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/connecting-fibres-cellulose-fibre-industry-impresses-innovation-and-vision
Biosensor for whole blood and exhaled breath analysis - 02/02/2022 Antibiotic detection from whole blood or exhaled breath possible Incorrectly dosed antibiotics are not only dangerous for patients, but also often the cause of resistant strains of bacteria. Researchers at the University of Freiburg have developed a biosensor to determine the effective amount and thus enable personalised therapy. The biosensor works by rapidly determining small amounts of the substances directly from whole blood or exhaled breath.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/antibiotic-detection-whole-blood-or-exhaled-breath-possible
Press release - 31/01/2022 Cancer research learns from space travel Researchers use epigenetic factors to investigate the role of stress in the development of tumor diseases. Experts believe that stress plays a major role in the development of tumors. One occupational group, for example, that experiences extreme stress over a short period of time is astronauts.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/press-release/cancer-research-learns-space-travel
Press release - 13/01/2022 Turning harmful CO2 into useful chemicals Making important raw materials for fine chemicals out of carbon dioxide really works. As part of the Max Planck collaborative project eBioCO2n, a team of researchers from Fraunhofer IGB have successfully performed a first ever fixation of CO2 via a multi-enzyme enzyme reaction driven by electricity yielding a prospective intermediate for the chemical industry. The process for electro-biocatalytic CO2 fixation was recently published and is…https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/turning-harmful-co2-useful-chemicals
Press release - 30/09/2021 Essity begins tissue production from alternative fibers Hygiene and health company Essity is today presenting a breakthrough in sustainable tissue production and is beginning production based on pulp from wheat straw. The plant in Mannheim, Germany, is the first of its kind in Europe, and the first on a large-scale tissue production in the world.https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/essity-begins-tissue-production-alternative-fibers
Start-up PROSERVATION - sustainable packaging - 21/09/2021 Husk as a substitute for polystyrene: packaging materials with a good conscience Expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging is very practical, but it is made from petroleum and is not very environmentally friendly in other ways either. Single-use plastic containers made of EPS have therefore been banned in the EU, but alternatives are also urgently needed. The Stuttgart-based start-up PROSERVATION has developed an ecological packaging material made from grain husks that could replace EPS and be just as effective.https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/husk-substitute-polystyrene-packaging-materials-good-conscience
3R-Center - 18/08/2021 Putting alternatives to animal testing into practice Animal experiments are still central to biomedical research. However, it has become increasingly clear that not all of them are absolutely necessary. Alternative techniques exist. The new 3R-Netzwerk Baden-Württemberg is now seeking to promote these more vigorously - and improve animal welfare in cases where alternatives to animal testing are not available.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/putting-alternatives-animal-testing-practice
ROKO Farming - 03/08/2021 Thinking upwards: vertical farming to be further developed into continuous production ROKO Farming’s novel technology is designed to produce fruit and vegetables worldwide all year round, while also freeing up areas for rewilding. This semi-automatic production method created by the Ulm-based business has huge future potential, as their success in innovation competitions demonstrates.https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/thinking-upwards-vertical-farming-be-further-developed-continuous-production
Press release - 27/07/2021 Furniture from the biogas plant The Hallertau is Germany's largest hop-growing region. During harvesting, hop bine chaff is left over, which is converted into environmentally friendly bio natural gas on site in a biogas plant. But that is not the end of the utilization chain for this fiber plant. Researchers at the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF) have used the plant-containing biogas digestate to produce a composite material that can be…https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/furniture-biogas-plant
Alpha-Protein GmbH - 27/07/2021 Insect farming for sustainability Mealworms instead of fish meal and soybean meal - this is what the sustainable future of feed production looks like as Alpha-Protein GmbH see it. The company has built a highly efficient automated production plant in which residual materials from local food production are used to breed mealworms.https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/insect-farming-sustainability
Press release - 16/07/2021 Robotically wound natural fibre construction The "livMatS Pavilion" in the Botanical Garden of the University of Freiburg is a model for a bioinspired sustainable construction. In a joint project, researchers from the Universities of Freiburg and Stuttgart together with master’s students from the University of Stuttgart have designed a lightweight pavilion. https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/robotically-wound-natural-fibre-construction
Press release - 16/07/2021 Corona test with cotton swab To diagnose an infection with the coronavirus, usually a throat swab is taken and genetic viral material detected by using a highly sensitive PCR. To date, more than 65 million of these tests have been performed in Germany alone. Due to the massive increase in testing worldwide and simultaneous loss of production, there was a significant shortage of test materials in the early stage of the pandemic.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/press-release/corona-test-cotton-swab
Press release - 07/07/2021 Treasure Hunt in Sewage Sludge The European Union is largely dependent on imports of white phosphorus (P4), a strategic raw material for the food and pharmaceutical industries. To tackle this challenge, the newly started four-year EU-funded project FlashPhos – led by the University of Stuttgart – will recover at a large scale high-quality white phosphorus and other raw materials using sewage sludge as input material. https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/schatzsuche-im-klaerschlamm
Showcase Bioeconomy - 22/06/2021 Advanced biofuel breakthrough: HyFlexFuel converted sewage sludge and other biomasses into kerosene by hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) The EU funded research project HyFlexFuel recently succeeded to produce biocrudes via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) from a variety of biomasses, including sewage sludge, food waste, manure, wheat straw, corn stover, pine sawdust, miscanthus and microalgae in a pilot-scale continuous HTL plant at Aarhus University (Denmark).https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/advanced-biofuel-breakthrough-hyflexfuel-converted-sewage-sludge-and-other-biomasses-kerosene-hydrothermal-liquefaction-htl
Press release - 10/06/2021 Nose2Brain – Active substances without detour through the nose into the brain Effective drugs for the treatment of diseases of the central nervous system do exist. However, the blood-brain barrier, which protects the brain as the body's control center, makes it especially difficult for therapeutic biomolecules to pass through. Thus, researchers from an international consortium coordinated by the Fraunhofer IGB have spent the last four and a half years developing a novel system in the EU project "N2B-patch"…https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/press-release/nose2brain-active-substances-without-detour-through-nose-brain
Press release - 07/06/2021 For which plastic products is biodegradation a viable end-of-life option? The final report including comprehensive fact sheets of 25 applications is now available online in German and English.https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/which-plastic-products-biodegradation-viable-end-life-option
Press release - 03/05/2021 Bioactive paper coatings to replace plastic for packaging foods The amount of plastic waste increases every year. Some of this waste is due to plastic packaging used to protect food. As part of the “BioActiveMaterials” project, researchers at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have developed an eco-friendly coating for paper packaging. With this, not only is plastic saved, but the coating of plant-based proteins and waxes also extends the shelf life of the food.https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/bioactive-paper-coatings-replace-plastic-packaging-foods
Press release - 23/04/2021 For which plastic products is biodegradation a viable endof- life option? The BioSinn project found products and applications for which biodegradation at the end-of-life is a real option. 25 fact sheets answer technical and regulatory questions for each application. The market volume of these applications was also estimated: in Germany it is about 170,000 tonnes, in the European Union about 1 million tonnes per year!https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/bei-welchen-kunststoffprodukten-ist-der-biologische-abbau-eine-sinnvolle-end-life-option
Alternative source of protein - 07/04/2021 Smart insect farms as sustainable protein sources of the future It is estimated that by 2050, if not before, the world's population will have grown so much that it will be difficult to provide adequate supplies of food for everyone. It is therefore high time to look for alternatives. One option could be insects as an environmentally friendly source of protein for humans and animals. The start-up company Cepri is developing smart insect farms with the goal to make primary production, which is not yet…https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/smart-insect-farms-sustainable-protein-sources-future
Paper technology - 10/03/2021 PLAFCO – a sustainable plastic substitute made from paper Plastic is indispensable: it is cheap and practical and found in many disposable products such as drinking straws, disposable tableware or even packaging like bonded beverage cartons or bags – and it has a disastrous effect on the environment. The start-up company Plafco Fibertech Oy has developed a sustainable plastic substitute made of paper that could replace many disposable plastic products in the future.https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/plafco-sustainable-plastic-substitute-made-paper
Press release - 03/03/2021 New Baden-Württemberg network to reduce animal experiments A new network has been set up in Baden-Württemberg aimed at reducing animal experiments as well as further improving animal welfare. It combines new approaches and measures at the state’s biomedical research locations, which are expected to limit stress in laboratory animals and steadily reduce the number of animals used in research in line with the 3R principles of Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/press-release/new-baden-wuerttemberg-network-reduce-animal-experiments
Press release - 24/02/2021 Disease progression in childhood cancer: Lengthening of telomeres promotes relapse Neuroblastoma can spread relentlessly or shrink spontaneously. Scientists from the Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the University of Heidelberg and the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg have shown that some malignant neuroblastomas employ a trick to avoid cell death: they use a special mechanism to lengthen the telomeres at the end of their chromosomes. https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/press-release/disease-progression-childhood-cancer-lengthening-telomeres-promotes-relapse
Press release - 08/02/2021 Water-repellent and more: coating textiles sustainably with chitosan Textiles can be coated with the biopolymer chitosan and thus made water-repellent by binding hydrophobic molecules. The good thing is that this can also replace toxic and petroleum-based substances that are currently used for textile finishing. In the last few years Fraunhofer IGB and partners have developed technology to provide fibers with the desired properties using biotechnological processes and chitosan.https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/Water-repellent-and-more-coating-textiles-sustainably-with-chitosan
Press release - 29/01/2021 The added value of compostable plastics for the circular economy For quite some time now, the European Commission (EC) is putting a special focus on biodegradable and compostable polymers when assessing the general role of bioplastics. https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/pm/added-value-compostable-plastics-circular-economy
Paper production from plant fibres - 20/01/2021 In one cycle: ecopaper, energy and fertiliser made from Silphium perfoliatum Many consumers don't care about exactly how their paper packaging is made and what it is made of as long as it is "eco". But even producing recycled paper, trees need to be felled. An alternative could be paper made from cup plant. Together with partners, a company called Silphie Paper has developed concept for obtaining fibres for a new type of grass paper, while also producing heat, energy and nutrients for natural fertilisers.https://www.biooekonomie-bw.de/en/articles/news/one-cycle-ecopaper-energy-and-fertiliser-made-silphium-perfoliatum