Research

The Danube Island Festival in Vienna is one of the largest open-air music festivals in Europe and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. Since it was founded in 1984, it has combined musical diversity, social integration and community togetherness to create one of Austria's cultural highlights. More recently, the organizers have firmly anchored sustainability and the circular economy in the festival and use the event as a platform to bring innovative topics such as the bioeconomy and circular economy closer to a broad audience. The project “DonauCycle - Celebrating cycles and experiencing sustainability” aims to communicate this content in a playful and low-threshold way. The initiative sees itself as the starting point for an interactive “cycle island” that presents complex scientific and technical content such as biology, chemistry, process engineering and climate protection in an understandable and entertaining way. Interactive activities are divided into three categories: Information events, “do it yourself” stations and an exhibition area for start-ups from the bioeconomy and circular economy sectors. These are given a stage to present technologies and solutions and inspire visitors with innovative approaches to resource use. The project is based on the “cradle to cradle” approach and covers the entire value chain from raw material extraction to recycling. Visitors can take part in guided tours in which material flows and the interaction of individual stations are explained. The aim is to raise awareness among a wide audience, promote dialog between science, business and society and present concrete solutions for sustainable cycles - all within the framework of a rousing public festival. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

In light of urgent climate and environmental challenges, the transition from a petroleum-based industry to a biobased circular economy is of great importance. A key aspect of this transition is the increased utilization of non-wood and currently "undervalued" biomass streams to meet future biomass demand and mitigate ecological damage caused by unsustainable forestry. The InnoWAP project aims to develop an innovative value-creation strategy for utilizing locally available aquatic plants. The focus is on submerged aquatic plants from the Alte and Neue Donau in Vienna, as well as emergent plants, especially reeds, from Lake Neusiedl. Sustainable management of these aquatic plants is essential to prevent siltation, avoid negative impacts on ecosystems, and ensure the usability of water bodies. In Vienna alone, approximately 3,000 to 4,000 tons of submerged aquatic plants are harvested annually, resulting in harvest and disposal costs of around 2 million euros. Currently, this biomass is primarily composted, despite BOKU research showing that these plants can be processed into paper and packaging materials. Additionally, aquatic plants are removed from watercourses as part of flood protection efforts. Due to the seasonal availability and short fiber length of submerged plants, the project also investigates long-fibered reeds, of which approximately 5,000 tons are harvested annually at Lake Neusiedl, representing less than 10% of the available potential. InnoWAP's goal is to develop a sustainable and decentralized valorization strategy to convert the harvested aquatic plants into value-added products. By developing an ecologically and economically sustainable on-site processing method, transport and storage costs can be minimized, enabling circular use in line with the principles of a circular economy. The project aims to collaborate with industrial and research partners (Industry: Flatz, NaKu, Lenzing AG, Berky, Lenzing Papier; Research institutes: BOKU, FOTEC, TU Graz, WoodK+) to process aquatic plants into specialty papers, textile fibers, food trays, and packaging materials. The use of aquatic plants is of high relevance both nationally and internationally and has garnered significant public interest. The processing method developed in the project is intended to be applicable to a wide range of similar biomass streams. The technologies developed in InnoWAP will integrate the use of aquatic plants into the circular economy, increasing regional value creation while simultaneously contributing to CO₂ emission reduction. Due to the growing rates of aquatic plants, driven by eutrophication and climate change, efficient management of affected water bodies is of international importance. The developed technologies are thus forward-looking and will strengthen Austria’s economy in the long term.

In many countries, insects are used as a source of protein for human nutrition or for feeding and breeding livestock, as they can be easily reared on a variety of biological substrates due to their frugality. The black soldier fly (BSF), particularly its larvae, are capable of processing a wide range of organic waste due to their robustness and high conversion efficiency of up to 70%. However, to ensure optimal growth conditions for BSF larvae, it is of immense importance to properly compose the feeding substrate. For this reason, rapid and efficient analytical methods are being developed to quickly assess the supplied organic waste stream. In addition, the suitability of insect biomass as a raw material for the production of various materials is being tested for its physical and chemical properties.