Materials and technologies - September 2019
Hygienic beer caps thanks to Fraunhofer technology
UV light inactivates germs in drinking water. Until now, the disinfection process relied on mercury-vapor lamps, which emit light in the UV spectrum. However, mercury is a heavy metal that affects human health and the environment. Fraunhofer researchers are investigating a greener and more efficient alternative, which uses UV LEDs to destroy bacterial DNA. The technology is also suitable for disinfecting brewing water and for disinfecting the caps for bottled beer, soft drinks, and mineral water during the filling process.
LignoCOST: exploiting the potential of lignin
As a natural adhesive, lignin has enormous potential in a wide range of applications. Its full industrial potential has yet to be exploited. LignoCOST, an EU network coordinated by Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, aims to change that. Lignin is the substance that gives firmness to trees, grasses and straw. It is released during pulp and paper production, and is currently mainly used as fuel. It could be of much greater value to industry. For instance, lignin has interesting aromatic and polymer properties, as well as a UV-stabilising effect and an antimicrobial effect.
Biomaterials and coatings
A new ARS-developed, starch-based coating makes paper water resistant.
Aalto University and VTT researchers have created a new bio-based material by gluing together wood cellulose fibres and the silk protein found in spider web threads. The result is a very firm and resilient material which could be used in the future as a possible replacement for plastic, as part of bio-based composites and in medical applications, surgical fibres, the textile industry and packaging. An article (7.58 MB) about the research is published in Science Advances.
University of Sussex graduate Lucy Hughes has been named this year’s UK national James Dyson Award winner. She used fish offcuts to create MarinaTex, a translucent and flexible sheet material that could be used in a wide range of single-use packaging including sandwich containers and tissue boxes.
On 5 September, Lisanne de Weert held a speech entitled ‘Plastic food packaging: pollution or preservation?’ as part of her master assignment at the University of Twente. Chairman of the assessment committee was professor Roland ten Klooster who holds the NVC Chair Packaging Design and Management.
New discovery could further advance carbon capture and utilisation
Many scientists are studying the practice of using excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere or from point sources, instead of fossil fuels, to synthesize chemicals used to make everyday products, from plastics to fuels to pharmaceuticals. Now, researchers at the University of Delaware have made a new discovery that could further advance the capture and utilisation and extend its promise to new industries. An article about the research is published in Nature Chemistry (abstract).
Weekly overview of prices for plastics
Dutch trade magazine Vraag en Aanbod publishes a weekly overview of the prices for plastics (in Dutch). The prices given are estimated averages between the gross prices published in the trade journals and the net prices.
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