Given the dependence on fossil resources and with the increasing perception of environmental problems from the use of petro-based products, materials that are produced and reused in an ecologically as well as economically sustainable way are becoming more and more important. Such sustainable materials are mainly based on a true circular economy (recycling), come from biomass (preferably from residual materials) or are based on the use of atmospheric CO2 or CO2 from corresponding exhaust gases.
On this basis, marketable and environmentally friendly products are to emerge from the innovation network “Sustainable Materials”.
A research team from the University of Freiburg led by biochemist Prof. Dr. Oliver Einsle has discovered how the “Shethna protein II” protects the nitrogen-binding enzyme nitrogenase from damage.
Defossilising the chemicals and derived materials sector is a critical and urgent challenge for industrialisation and delivering the EU’s goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050.