Innovation network for material use of waste wood at regional level - REGULUS

Project background

The demand for biogenic resources is increasing. Although wood as a raw material is growing, it is limited by cultivation areas and growth rates. The recycling and cascading use of wood is therefore becoming increasingly important. Currently, 80% of waste wood in Bavaria is used for energy and only 20% for materials. A higher proportion of material use of waste wood can counteract a possible shortage of resources. With each additional cascade of use, the climate protection performance of wood as a raw material increases. However, the industry faces hurdles and few resource-related and economic incentives to develop higher-value material utilization concepts.

This is where the ISAR research project comes in: New waste wood innovation paths are being developed that are technically and economically feasible, as well as ecologically and socially suitable. The open innovation approach is used to open up product and technology development to external ideas and know-how. The innovation paths and the products and processes are evaluated and optimized in real laboratories of the practice partners in Bavaria. The results of both phases will be used to create a transformation roadmap, which will identify optimization potential and measures for implementing the concept in practice.

Project objective

In addition to modelling the future volume of waste wood and optimizing the waste wood value chain, three innovation paths are being pursued, the first two of which are being researched at THRO together with partners from industry:

IP1: Dimension-preserving use of waste wood

IP2: Waste wood in the biorefinery

IP3: Waste wood as a substrate for fungal mycelium-based materials

Three professorships and the Center for Biobased Materials (ZBM) are involved in this.

The Chair of Solid Wood Processing and Solid Wood Processing is pursuing the sorting and processing of waste wood with a focus on the dimension-preserving use and utilization of solid wood through to the development of a product and, in parallel, the increase in the quantity and quality of recycled wood chips (innovation pathway 1).

The Chair of Applied Chemistry is investigating the use of waste wood as a raw material for chemical digestion in biorefineries and is also investigating the potential of waste wood as a substrate for fungal mycelium-based materials (innovation path 2/3).

The Chair of Sustainable Product Development and Management is designing and modeling sustainable business models for the new innovation paths described above, among others. In addition, together with the ZBM, it is investigating the technological optimization possibilities of the waste wood process chain and incorporating findings from this work into the dynamic waste wood system simulation to be developed.

The aim of the project is to develop new business models for innovative material waste wood utilization paths. To extend existing value chains and create new ones in order to further shape the transition from linear to circular wood use.

Project procedure

The interdisciplinary methodological approach of the ISAR research group, which is coordinated between science and industry, is based on the open innovation approach in the 3-year research phase in order to open up product and technology development to external ideas and know-how in the innovation paths and to develop the innovation concept. To this end, various product ideas are being developed for the dimension-preserving use of waste wood. In parallel, chemical digestion processes and the production of mushroom-mycelium-waste wood composites between science and companies (practice partners) are being investigated and analyzed through an open technology screening.

For holistic decision-making, the innovation paths are supplemented by modelled waste wood flows, resulting requirements for waste wood processing and logistics, ecological assessments, acceptance analyses and a business model detailing, and the influencing factors on the waste wood market are analyzed by dynamic simulation.

The Forestry and Wood Cluster Initiative and associated knowledge transfer partners, e.g. Chemie-Cluster Bayern and BioCampus Straubing, act as initiators of Open Innovation with collaborative platforms. In the 2-year implementation phase, the selected products and processes of the innovation paths are evaluated with the practice partners in real laboratories in order to make further optimizations and transfer the findings to other regions.

Innovation

The ISAR project is developing new innovation paths for waste wood for the Bavarian study area, which will be tested in real laboratories in a subsequent 2-year phase. The THRO is developing an in-depth scientific basis here, which is necessary in order to conduct applied interdisciplinary research together with industry partners. Specifically, this means creating the knowledge base for adapted logistics concepts (including redistribution logistics) and developing a sound technical basis for the long-term dimension-preserving use of waste wood.

In addition, the implementation of chemical wood digestion and the instrumental analysis of waste wood and its components is intended to develop knowledge about the chemical use of waste wood and transfer it to industry.

Another expected result is the development of a regional innovation concept for the optimized (material) use of waste wood using Bavaria as an example. This shows how the results can be put into practice and thus demonstrates how they can also be transferred to other regions.

The interdisciplinary composition of the network and the involvement of cluster organizations, science and industry ensure a broad presence "on the ground" as well as strong and structurally comprehensive networking and acceptance in the region. Due to the structure of the Bavarian timber industry, the use of wood is closely linked to the topic of "regionality". Value chains with, among other things, short transportation distances guarantee a low ecological footprint and enable the creation of new jobs, especially in rural areas.

The Regulus funding measure

With the funding measure "REGULUS - Regional Innovation Groups for a Climate-Protecting Forestry and Timber Industry", the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is addressing challenges in German forests that are threatened by increasing storms, extreme droughts, high temperatures and pest infestation as part of the Research for Sustainability Strategy (FONA). Five supra-regional innovation clusters are currently being funded, which are accompanied by a scientific cross-sectional project coordinated by the Thünen Institute of Wood Research.