A sustainable world with green raw materials
The plant world offers a wealth of sustainable raw materials for, e.g., pharmaceuticals, bioplastics, bio-energy and fine chemicals. The art is in finding and utilising these green raw materials. This is the art in which scientists of Plant Research International have specialised.
With its goal-oriented search for green raw materials Plant Research International is contributing fully to an economy that is much less dependent on oil. Products such as plastic, fine chemicals and pesticides are now often produced from oil. This means that products of vegetable origin are reducing the use of oil as a raw material.
The first steps towards such a sustainable economy have been made. We should now focus on finding more green raw materials and on better utilisation of existing materials. This requires knowledge about the biochemical processes in plants, plant cultivation, and the food web in the soil. Knowledge abundantly available in Plant Research International.
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Making algae cultivation more efficient with bacteria
Algae coexist intimately with bacteria – probably so intimately that the presence or absence of specific bacteria directly influences the growth and stability of algae in commercial algae pools. Researchers at Plant Research International are investigating the role of that connection in the hope of finding clues that will help improve cultivation.
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Meeting their own energy needs with jatropha
The oil-rich seed of the Jatropha curcas tree can enable local populations in tropical regions to meet their own energy needs. This can be achieved by improving the production of this tree, which is now still wild, and bringing it into traditional and innovative cultivation systems and so helping better serve the market. Research partners from Africa, Europe, South and Central America and Asia are working together on this.
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Fungi can replace chemical pre-treatment of wood
Fungi can render the chemical pre-treatment of wood for the production of second-generation biofuels redundant. The same fungi also convert indigestible rice straw into tasty livestock fodder, so researchers at Plant Research International discovered.
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Use soil organisms to combat plant diseases and in industry
The mostly unknown reservoir of micro-organisms in the soil can be put to good use, researchers at Plant Research International have demonstrated. Bacteria and fungi from the soil can be deployed in a targeted way to suppress plant diseases and infestations, but also as a raw material for natural bleaches, for example.
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Using reeds to deliver heat and clean streams
Reed beds first purify the stream and then restore life to the dried out hinterland, after which the mown reed delivers heat to nearby buildings from a special furnace. Researchers from Plant Research International are working on this combination of functions at the Lankheet estate in Overijssel. The water board is enthusiastic about the initiative.
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Opportunity map predicts possibilities for crop production
Establishing how much biomass a particular region can produce at a touch of a button – that will become a reality in the future thanks to the ‘Opportunity Map’, which researchers at Plant Research International are developing in partnership with the Agricultural Economic Institute, Alterra and ISRIC.
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Plants supply building blocks for chemicals industry
Plants supplying raw materials for the chemicals industry? Yes, that is possible. Researchers at Plant Research International have delivered proof with potato and itacon acid. A plant-based raw material like this is far more sustainable than the existing raw materials based on oil. The trick now will be to increase production and to search for other possible raw materials.
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Seaweed farms at sea for high production of proteins
Large-scale production of seaweed at sea has the potential to double plant production worldwide. Such seaweed farms can help feed the growing world population. Researchers at Plant Research International are working on a sustainable cultivation system at sea, in which the proteins from seaweed can be used as a raw material for various products.
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More efficient production of bio-ethanol and biogas
Non-food crops such as miscanthus and maize can replace fossil fuels as biofuel. But that is not possible without expensive chemical or physical pre-treatment of the crops. Researchers at Plant Research International are working to breed plants which do not require this pre-treatment.
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Useful substances in plants as building blocks for medicines
Plants are bursting with substances which are useful for everything from medicines to molecules to manufacturing ‘plastic’ bottles. But you do need to first find those substances and know how to extract them and adapt them if necessary. Researchers at Plant Research International are working hard to establish how to do just that and they have already had some successes.
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Producing fine chemicals in an effective and eco-friendly way
Fine chemicals is a collective name for chemical raw materials and semi-manufactures characterised by their high added value and relatively small production volumes. The way in which fine chemicals, such as colourings, aromas and flavourings, are produced could be far more environmentally friendly. Researchers at Plant Research International are studying the mechanism which plants use to generate those substances. They then transfer this mechanism into micro organisms, after which the generation and harvesting of the substances can be achieved without polluting chemical methods. |