Green-Bio-Economy and Bio-Nanotechnology for a More Sustainable Environment

Towards a carbon-negative sustainable bio-based economy

The bio-based economy relies on sustainable, plant-derived resources for fuels, chemicals, materials, food and feed rather than on the evanescent usage of fossil resources. The cornerstone of this economy is the biorefinery, in which renewable resources are intelligently converted to a plethora of products, maximizing the valorization of the feedstocks. Innovation is a prerequisite to move a fo...

The Bio-based Economy

The bio-based economy can and should be to the 21 century what the fossil-based economy was to the 20 century. Agriculture will be core to the bio-based economy, providing source materials for commodity items, e.g. liquid fuels and value-added products such as chemicals and materials. For example, a hectare (2.47 acres) of biomass crop converted to 16,800 L (4,450 gallons) of ethanol at a cost ...

Bio-nanotechnology Approaches to Neural Tissue Engineering

Injury to the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS) may result in severe functional loss. Spontaneous regeneration is limited to small lesions within the injured PNS and is actively suppressed within the CNS. In this chapter we discuss the pathology and changes in the physiological environment following PNS/CNS injury. Several key factors such as the glial scar and in...

Biorenewables, the bio-based economy and sustainability.

This issue of Interface Focus is being used to introduce readers of Interface to research into the use of plants to supply mankind with renewable energy and material resources. This field is given the general name of biorenewables research, but over the past few years it has come to public attention through media coverage surrounding one type of biorenewable product, liquid biofuels. Biofuels r...

Collaborative governance for sustainable forestry in the emerging bio-based economy in Europe