
Nature based materials
To transform our current fossil based society to a sustainable climate neutral one within planetary boundaries, we need to produce our materials from biobased resources. The preferred way to do so is to use the functionalities that nature provides and fit those to the applications we need in everyday life. At Wageningen Food & Biobased Research we develop innovative technologies and value chains to source and valorize all the components in biomass as feedstock for renewable materials.
Local ecosystems are an increasing model to convert available bioresources such as agricultural, landscaping and forestry residues into a variety of sustainable
products. Of course in developing such value chains this requires not only an
outlook on economically viable business cases, but also positive impact on
sustainability aspects like biodiversity, land-use, greenhouse gas, nitrogen
emissions and soil health.
Nature provides
Regional Bioeconomy
Security of supply and healthy business model
The whole picture
From a linear fossil based system to a sustainable circular biobased ecosystem requires completely new processes, value chains, regulations and collaborations; a complex and challenging task. With 150 researchers Wageningen Food and Biobased Research has over 30 years of experience in applied research in the domain of biobased and circular products. Together with innovative frontrunners from the industry, farmers, governments, NGO’s and research partners we can accelerate the necessary developments and contribute to a sustainable fossil free high quality future.
Connecting the composition of the biomass and the potential of the different components and their functionalities to the required products specifications maximizes the valorization of biomass. That is where our extensive knowledge and experience comes in. We assist industry building these new value chains by developing the necessary biorefinery technologies such as preservation, extraction, fermentation and downstream processing, but also in material production and testing. In our extensive lab and pilot scale facilities we at Wageningen Food and Biobased Research have developed numerous nature based materials such as binderless boards, tomato plant based packaging, biobased mouth-masks and renewable composite materials. And at the same time support the realization of regional ecosystems where innovative value chains are put into practice. Our aim is to create maximum value for the industry and positive environmental impact for society.