Research

In many countries, insects are used as a source of protein for human consumption or for feeding and breeding livestock due to their ability to be easily cultivated on a variety of organic substrates, thanks to their hardiness. The Black Soldier Fly (BSF), particularly its larvae, stands out for its robustness and high conversion efficiency of up to 70%, enabling it to process a wide range of organic waste materials. However, to ensure optimal growth conditions for BSF larvae, it is of immense importance to properly formulate the feeding substrate. Therefore, rapid and efficient analytical methods are being developed to quickly assess the composition of the supplied organic waste stream. Furthermore, the suitability of insect biomass as a raw material for producing various materials is being evaluated for its physical and chemical suitability.

This project investigates different usage modes of plant-derived antioxidants, such as tocopherol derivatives or polyphenols, from various biorefinery scenarios. A focus lies on lipophilic plant extractives on one side, and tannins (gallotannins and ellagitannins) on the other side. The antioxidants will be tested first as stabilizers in the Lyocell process (cellulose fiber manufacture), where they are supposed to limit homolytic and hetrolytic side reactions, especially the autocatalytic degradation of the solvent N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide, while at the same time limiting the generation of strong chromophores.

Replacing fossil raw materials with renewable, biobased alternatives or promoting the development of renewable raw material sources are cornerstones of the Austrian Bioeconomy Strategy 2030. Aquatic plants (macrophytes) offer hitherto untapped potential for this. Climatically induced changes, as well as eutrophication of water bodies, lead to an increase in aquatic plant populations in Vienna and its surroundings. This can be seen, among other things, in the increasing weed growth in the Old and New Danube. To ensure ecological quality and recreational activities, the removal of these water plants is inevitable. Investigations by the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU) at the Tulln site showed that valuable special papers, as well as biobased and highly compacted board materials, can be produced from this biomass. For this purpose, a fiber material is used that is obtained from the aquatic plants by a pulping process. However, aquatic plants also have a high content of proteins and soluble biopolymers, which can be used for the production of adhesives. Furthermore, extractives from aquatic plants have antioxidant properties and can thus be incorporated into smart packaging materials. In this follow-up project, BOKU, together with the Federal Environment Agency, will investigate the cascaded use of water plants. The aim is to develop an ecological and economic concept for the use of water plant components in different material applications.