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Introduction
Published in Antje Klitkou, Arne Martin Fevolden, Marco Capasso, From Waste to Value, 2019
Antje Klitkou, Arne Martin Fevolden, Marco Capasso
Over the last decade, the notion of grand challenges has emerged as a central issue in policymaking and in academic discourse. The Lund Declaration (2009) stressed the urgency of pursuing solutions to the so-called grand societal challenges, such as climate change, food security, health, industrial restructuring and energy security. All these challenges are persistent problems which require long-term approaches and are highly complex, difficult to manage and characterised by uncertainties (Coenen, Hansen & Rekers, 2015; Schuitmaker, 2012). The concept of a bioeconomy has been introduced as an important pathway for addressing several of these challenges. Replacing fossil-based products with products based on organic waste resources is an important strategy not only for mitigating climate change, but also for fostering industrial restructuring, improving public health and ensuring food and energy security (Ollikainen, 2014; Pülzl, Kleinschmit & Arts, 2014; Richardson, 2012).
Perspectives
Published in Jean-Luc Wertz, Magali Deleu, Séverine Coppée, Aurore Richel, Hemicelluloses and Lignin in Biorefineries, 2017
Jean-Luc Wertz, Magali Deleu, Séverine Coppée, Aurore Richel
Purchasing of biobased products continues to be supported through government mandates on procurement policies.9 However, sales of biobased products also are driven increasingly by U.S. customers’ preferences based on their growing awareness of the environmental impacts of their purchasing decisions. Surveys suggest that customers want to buy green, biobased products, but they continue to be more sensitive to prices than their European counterparts. As the bioeconomy expands, challenges arise in the development of biobased products. One of these challenges is the uncertainty created by policy changes impacting current farming practices.
Introduction
Published in Jean-Luc Wertz, Philippe Mengal, Serge Perez, Biomass in the Bioeconomy, 2023
Jean-Luc Wertz, Philippe Mengal, Serge Perez
Some products of the bioeconomy include microorganisms acting as environmental biosensors, fabrics made from biosynthetic spider silk, chemicals made through biosynthetic pathways instead of solely petrochemical synthesis (such as 1,3-propanediol), and novel foods and food additives made from yeast or bacteria. The US bioeconomy offers means of developing innovative products, with benefits such as reduced carbon emissions and improved healthcare applications.
Fluorescent optotracers for bacterial and biofilm detection and diagnostics
Published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 2023
Agneta Richter-Dahlfors, Elina Kärkkäinen, Ferdinand X. Choong
While maybe not obvious at the first glance, infection and plant science have a lot in common. The rigid bacterial cell wall and the structural support in bacterial biofilms rely on polysaccharides, which are the same macromolecules as in plants. With research becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, merger of competences and developments from different fields will act synergistically to improve our knowledge in multiple fields. That is why infection research can deliver a cutting-edge technology to the plant science field, in which optotracing represents the first method for non-destructive analysis of polysaccharides, thereby allowing their analysis in native states. Bioeconomy broadly means the production and use of biological resources, products, and processes in such ways that fossil resources can be replaced. Key to achieving the goal of circular bioeconomy is a responsible use of natural resources [147]. In contrast to current sample destructive methods, the non-destructive optotracing method serves as an enabling technology for development towards efficient use of plant-derived materials and biomass [100,140]. By finding applications in both infection and production of fossil free materials, optotracing is an illustrative example of the power of interdisciplinary research, helping us to find solutions to the major global challenges we are facing today.
Supporting collaborative biodesign ideation with contextualised knowledge from bioscience
Published in CoDesign, 2023
Sander Välk, Yuning Chen, Elena Dieckmann, Céline Mougenot
Interactions and collaborations between different disciplines are growing increasingly, paving ways to new interdisciplinary industrial paradigms and biological production (Ginsberg and Chieza 2018). Entangling two or more disciplines is the essence of new knowledge and precondition of innovation (Dorst 2018; Oxman 2016). The paradigm shift towards more sustainable futures highlights the role of bio-sciences in creation of novel and useful technologies (Future Today Institute 2020). In the UK, the bioeconomy is estimated to double within 10–15 years (Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy 2018). Bioeconomy refers to all economic activity derived from bio-based products and processes which contribute to sustainable and resource-efficient solutions to the challenges humans face in food, chemicals, materials, energy production, health and environmental protection. For example, synthetic biology is expected to be at the forefront of such developments, illustrated by proliferation of hundreds of companies that produce chemicals, drugs, proteins, probiotics, sensors, fertilisers, textiles and food through application of engineering principles to organisms (Meng and Ellis 2020).
Impact of greywater on germination and physiological responses of Triticum aestivum L. HD 2967 in soil amended with poultry biochar
Published in Environmental Technology, 2023
Rekha Kumari, Rozi Sharma, Neeraj Kumar Sharma, Deepak Pant, Piyush Malaviya
To combat degrading soil, depleting freshwater resources, and reducing wastewater volume discharged in watercourses, an attempt is made for greywater (domestic wastewater with the exemption of toilet flush out) reuse to meet the need for water for irrigating crops and enhancing crop productivity by using organic manure-derived biochar as soil supplements, in addition to addressing environmental and economic challenges, improving soil quality, crop growth, and limiting the use of chemical fertilizers. Thus, the objectives of this article are to determine the effect of poultry biochar on soil properties, and the associated effects of greywater reuse, and to identify, rationalize and prioritize the use of low-cost biochar as a soil amendment to promote circular bioeconomy. The bioeconomy employs new ideas and technologies to create a broad set of biobased goods and energy, as well as waste utilization. The study may offer crucial knowledge for creating agronomic procedures that reuse the nutrients in poultry biochar to produce crops to achieve the goal of sustainable development.