Waterplants from Danube Region as Urban Biorefinery Feedstock
Abstract
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.
Lignocelluloses Pulping Active extractives Protein extraction Nanomaterials
Publikationen
Project staff
Marco Beaumont
Dr. Marco Beaumont
marco.beaumont@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-77432, 77436
Project Leader
01.03.2023 - 31.08.2024
Armin Winter
Dipl.-Ing. Armin Winter
armin.winter@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-77436
Sub Projectleader
27.03.2023 - 31.08.2024
Project Staff
01.03.2023 - 26.03.2023
BOKU partners
External partners
Environmental Agency
Helmut Frischenschlager
partner