Nominator's project description
| Forecasts predict that the oil reserves will by exhausted by the end of this century. One alternative to mineral oil is biomass, from which, for example, fuels can be gained. In order to avoid competition with food and fodder, vegetable structural components such as wood ought to be preferred to fruits. But it is much more difficult to transform them into the desired substances. This is why Roberto Rinaldi has developed catalytic processes with which cellulose, one of the chief components of wood, can be dissolved very quickly and then decomposed into smaller molecules that in turn can be used to produce basic chemicals. In his project, Rinaldi is extending this approach to a further chief component of wood, lignin. It offers access to compounds that are difficult to synthesise out of the cellulose share of biomass. Future sustainable fields of application include not only the environmentally friendly generation of energy but also the use of new biomaterials. |
