Viennese acib and BOKU researchers are developing a sterile 3D printing process that can be used to produce laboratory equipment from environmentally friendly and biodegradable plastic. This could avoid several million tons of single-use plastic waste and reduce resource, energy and water consumption by up to 90 percent.
Researchers have found a way to make the industrial production of pharmaceuticals, as well as flavorings and biopolymers, more environmentally friendly: Unlike chemical processes that use toxic heavy metals, the new biocatalytic synthesis pathway uses natural enzymes as reaction accelerators. In combination with an innovative enzyme search and screening process, the products can be manufactured faster and much more cost-effectively than before. The process has already been launched on the market: The bisy company is now using the new method to search for new enzymes for customers worldwide.
Carbon serves as the building block of life, as well as the goods and products we use every day. We consume fossil fuels and use carbon to make plastic and a variety of other products. Life as we know it today would not be possible without it. Therefore, carbon balance is crucial to have a sustainable world and future. In this context, CO2 balance is of particular interest because the rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations due to human activities is the main trigger for global warming, which in turn leads to a climate crisis that affects the global health, economy, and future of our planet.
Viennese researchers from the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib) and BOKU Vienna found a way to use the harmful greenhouse gas CO2 as a raw material for the production of industrial products such as bioplastics, absorbents or important chemicals with the help of an optimized yeast, thus binding it into durable materials. The technology, which is still on a laboratory scale, is not only climate-neutral, but could also make a contribution to the fight against climate change in the future.
The MOOC “The new plastics economy: circular business models and sustainability”, realized within the Horizon 2020 BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE project
One of the greatest difficulties in combating viral infectious diseases is the excellent adaptability of viruses. Especially with of SARS-CoV-2 new variants are quickly and constantly forming, bringing different properties with them. That’s why it’s important that in the future it will be crucial to predict more quickly and precisely how dangerous a virus can become.
Sustainability and use of renewable resources represent an important part of any production process with regard to circular economy and for the sake of our
Co-Authors: Martin Walpot & Doris Ribitsch An enzyme called tyrosinase, which is responsible for triggering a protective mechanism in plants and turning apples brown, even
The pharmaceutical industry has had to resort to rather inefficient, environmentally harmful chemical synthesis routes for the production of the active ingredient levetiracetam, a drug
