Press releases

As plastics production continues to grow globally, topics such as »microplastics« and »plastics in the environment« are becoming increasingly relevant and are part of social and political debates. Usually the focus of the discussions is on plastic pollution of aquatic ecosystems, whereas the pollution of soil ecosystems is often neglected. This raises the question of whether plastic pollution of soils and fields can have similar effects as in limnetic and marine ecosystems. In the »iMulch« project, funded by the EU and the German federate state North Rhine-Westphalia, scientists are developing new measuring methods to analyse the effects of plastics (micro and macro plastics) on soils and drainage waters.

The proportion of the urban population is growing steadily and thus the challenge of a sustainable food supply. In future, German and Japanese researchers want to cooperate more closely in the development of new technologies for urban horticulture.

Technological progress, forward-looking concepts, optimized processes. In increasingly shorter cycles, society is confronted with new developments – that does not necessarily receive a wide acceptance in the population. Therefore, it is even more important to present new technologies comprehensibly. This is the only way to make recognizable the added value of the development. The UMSICHT Friends and Patrons Group honors people with the UMSICHT Science Award who support the dialog between science and society through their work. In 2019, the award is going to be presented for the tenth time in the categories science and journalism and is endowed with a total of 10,000 EUR. Applications will be accepted until April 7, 2019.

Fraunhofer UMSICHT tested a software tool developed by Henkel that detects viability early in the packaging design process.

Shift work throws the internal clock out of sync and means stress for the body. One of the reasons for this is that long phases of artificial light exposure disturb the natural day-night rhythm. Fraunhofer UMSICHT used an experimental lighting system at the BMW Group plant in Munich to investigate the influence this has on the body and mind.

Whether used for power supply or in electric cars, current battery systems are based on a series of interconnected individual cells, which has certain disad-vantages in terms of efficiency and manufacturing. Bipolar battery setups, in contrast, comprise compact stacks of individual cells. A new type of flexible and extremely thin bipolar plate allows batteries to be manufactured cost ef-fectively. At the Hannover Messe Preview on January 24, 2019 (Hall 19) and the Hannover Messe itself from April 1-5, 2019 (Hall 2, Booth C22), researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technol-ogy UMSICHT will be presenting the development of this technology.

The energy and raw materials industries are growing together and, at the same time, fluctuations in the supply of renewable energies are increasingly influencing production processes. The DYNAFLEX® High-Performance Center develops flexible solutions and system proposals, as well as operating and business models for sustainable cross-industrial networks. With an interac-tive exhibit, Fraunhofer UMSICHT is presenting a real-life example at Hanno-ver Messe 2019. Visit us from April 1 to 5 at stand C22, hall 2.

Post-Its, adhesive tape, and labels: They do not lose their adhesive strength, even after being affixed and peeled off multiple times without leaving any residues. This is thanks to the pressure-sensitive adhesives used, which are usually based on fossil raw materials. Together with partners from science and industry, researchers from Fraunhofer UMSICHT have now developed an innovative, plant-based hot-melt pressure-sensitive adhesive.

More and more people live in cities, so that innovative processes and systems for urban greening are becoming increasingly important. New recycling pro-cesses and recyclable products must be developed at the same time to ensure resource-saving growth in the booming construction industry. At the BAU 2019 trade fair in Munich from January 14 to 19, Fraunhofer UMSICHT will be presenting three different projects that can make urban space even more liv-able, efficient and sustainable in the future.