EMPA

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Environment

Transcript and Metabolite Profiling for the Evaluation of Tobacco Tree and Poplar as Feedstock for the Bio-based Industry

Colin Ruprecht¹, Takayuki Tohge¹, Alisdair Fernie¹, Cara L. Mortimer², Amanda Kozlo², Paul D. Fraser², Norma Funke¹, Igor Cesarino^3,4, Ruben Vanholme^3,4, Wout Boerjan^3,4, Kris Morreel^3,4, Ingo Burgert^5,6, Notburga Gierlinger^5,6, Vincent Bulone⁷, Vera Schneider⁸, Andrea Stockero⁸, Juan Navarro-Aviñó⁹, Frank Pudel¹⁰, Bart Tambuyser¹¹, James Hygate¹², Jon Bumstead¹³, Louis Notley¹³, Staffan Persson^1,14

¹Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology, ²School of Biological Sciences, Plant Molecular Science, Centre for Systems and Synthetic Biology, Royal Holloway, University of London, ³Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, ⁴Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, UGhent, ⁵Institute for Building Materials, ETH Zurich, ⁶Applied Wood Materials, EMPA, ⁷Division of Glycoscience, School of Biotechnology, AlbaNova University Center, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), ⁸European Research and Project Office GmbH, ⁹ABBA Gaia S.L., ¹⁰Pflanzenöltechnologie, ¹¹Capax Environmental Services, ¹²Green Fuels, ¹³Neutral Consulting Ltd, ¹⁴Plant Cell Biology Research Centre, School of Botany, University of Melbourne

Plant biomass offers a renewable resource for multiple products, including fuel, feed, food, and a variety of materials. In this paper we investigate the properties of tobacco tree (Nicotiana glauca) and poplar as suitable sources for a biorefinery pipeline.

Education

Fabrication and Design of Wood-Based High-Performance Composites

Marion Frey^1,2, Meri Zirkelbach³, Clemens Dransfeld⁴, Eric Faude¹, Etienne Trachsel¹, Mikael Hannus⁵, Ingo Burgert^1,2, Tobias Keplinger^1,2

¹Wood Materials Science, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich, ²Cellulose & Wood Materials, Functional Materials, EMPA, ³Design and Arts, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, ⁴Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies, Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, ⁵Stora Enso Oyj

Delignified densified wood represents a new promising lightweight, high-performance and bio-based material with great potential to partially substitute natural fiber reinforced- or glass fiber reinforced composites in the future. We here present two versatile fabrication routes and demonstrate the possibility to create complex composite parts.