Products from Renewables

Our research on products from renewables is mainly carried out in lab-scale. The institute’s lab space account to more than 1300 m² of which more than 800 m² was recently build and is in operation since 2013.

Our research is carried in more than 30 different labs. We have five special analytical labs, two for educational purposes and plenty of them for our research work in the areas biomass digestion, biotechnical and chemo-catalytic conversion as well as polymers and materials. Details about specialized equipment needed in our various working areas can be found here:

General analytics

Our general analytics comprehend various well-established chromatography and spectroscopy techniques. Those are mainly used to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze the substrates and products of our biotechnical or catalytic conversion processes.

Biomass digestion

The institute is well equipped for the physical, thermochemical and enzymatic saccharification of biomass as well as for the analysis of the sugar composition of raw and pretreated biomass. In addition, the resulting degradation products can be quantified.

Biotechnical conversion

The institute has a comprehensive and modern equipment for the aerobic and anaerobic cultivation of microorganisms.

Chemo-catalytic conversion

We have comprehensive equipment for the preparation of catalysts and their characterization by different techniques. Further on, we have plenty of different reactor systems which can be used for batch or continuous-flow processes.

Downstream processing

In downstream processing of biotechnical or chemo-catalytic conversion processes we use different standard unit operation techniques.

Bio-based polymers and materials

The Institute can rely on extensive equipment for the preparation and functionalization of polymers and materials. The analytical instrumentation used allows the determination of complementary structural and property parameters under conditions of use.