Prof. Daniel Schwendemann

Head of Compounding and Extrusion (dep. Head of Institute)

OST University of Applied Sciences Eastern Switzerland

IWK Institute for Material Technology and Plastics Processing, Switzerland

BIOPLASTICS - OVERVIEW CLASSIFICATION AND TRENDS

Daniel Schwendemann works as a professor at the University of Applied Sciences Eastern Switzerland at the Rapperswil-Jona campus (formerly known as Hochschule für Technik) since 2010 in the field of mechanical engineering with a focus on materials science and plastic processing. He heads the Compounding and Extrusion department, which currently employs 12 staff members. For many years, he has been involved in recycling solutions and the use of bioplastics, as well as process development for plastic composite materials.

Herfried Lammer

Area Manager

Wood K plus, Austria

RECYCLING OF BIOBASED FIBER COMPOSITES - FROM A STRUCTURAL VALUE CHAIN AS BENEFICIAL RAW MATERIAL TO PACKAGING VALUE CHAIN

Herfried Lammer is Area Manager at Wood K plus - the leading Austrian research institute in the areas of wood composites and wood chemistry - responsible for the Research area Wood & Paper Surface Technologies, which includes the research teams Green Long Fiber Materials and Paper Properties. The research team Green Long Fiber Materials investigates and develops high-performance materials made from wood fibers and natural fibers for lightweight applications in the automotive and non-automotive sector as well including outstanding paper based sensors and also recycling issues for these composite materials. Combining this know how with paper technologies leads to possible recycling opportunities for this material class.

Prof. Ian Hamerton

Professor of Polymers and Composites

University of Bristol, UK

MODIFICATIONS NEEDED IN THE BIOBASED RESINS TO REACH AEROSPACE AND AERONAUTICS

Ian Hamerton is a chemist/polymer chemist by training and the National Composites Centre Professor in Polymers and Sustainable Composites in the Bristol Composites Institute (a joint appointment with the University of Bristol and the National Composites Centre). He is the Research Director for the CoSEM Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) (EP/S021728/1) and the ACCIS CDT (2015-present) (EP/L016028/1). Internationally recognized for his research in the field of high performance polymers and composites for extreme environments, he has published some 210 papers (9289 citations, h-index of 44), 3 edited books, 8 invited chapters, 8 review articles, and 15 patent applications. He has been associated with research and teaching grants and studentships in excess of £21M (with £6M as PI). The £1M grant as PI from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/P027393/1) led to the industrialization of the HiPerDiF technology and the spin out of Lineat Composites, of which Ian was a founder member. To date, he has co-supervised 57 doctoral students to completion (28 as PI) and is currently associated with a further 20. He has been an EPSRC Peer Review College member since 2007 and a member of the Editorial Board of Polymer International for >20 years.

Adrian Moreno

Universitat Rovira i Virgili · Department of Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry (DQAQO), Spain

UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF LIGNIN: TOWARDS LIGNIN-BASED POLYMERIC COMPOSITES AND CIRCULAR MATERIALS​

Adrian Moreno received his B.Sc and M.Sc in chemistry from Rovira i Virgili University (URV, Spain). He obtained his Ph.D. in chemical science and technology in 2019 working on Single Electron Transfer-Living Radical Polymerization (SET-LRP) and the design of stimuli-responsive polymers under the supervision of Prof. Gerard Lligadas and Prof. Marina Galià. During his Ph.D., he did an exchange in the group of Prof. Virgil Percec (University of Pennsylvania, USA). From 2020–2022, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Mika Sipponen at Stockholm University (SU, Sweden) in the field of lignin-based nanomaterials. Currently, he is a Ramón y Cajal associate researcher in the group of sustainable polymers (SusPol) at Rovira Virgili University (Spain). His research interests lie on the preparation of lignin-based functional materials, and the preparation of well-defined polymer derived from biomass for specific applications through control radical polymerization techniques.

Julio Vidal

R&D Department

Aitiip Technological Centre, Spain

BIOBASED MATERIALS IN COMPLEX AND RECYCLABLE STRUCTURES​

Julio is a chemist by the university of Zaragoza, currently working on his PhD in advanced biocomposties and their end of life. Julio has been developing his research activities for more than 7 years. Among the projects in which Julio has participated, it is possible to find different topics related with the circular economy, recyclability and composites. Julio has participated in more than 20 R&D European projects and several national projects.
His participation in all these different projects has been possible due to the variety of techniques in which he has been worked on with polymers; in the field of thermoplastics with extrusion, injection, extrusion blow molding, blow film, casting; while for thermoset materials he has mainly worked with Liquid Resin Infusion and prepreg and the adaptation of both techniques for the use of bioresins and biofarbics. His line of work is now focused on the fabrication of new sustainable components with advanced materials, the preparation of biobased polymers and the incorporation of composite materials in a circular economy concept and easy to recycle.

Assist. Janez Slapnik

Faculty of Polymer Technology, Slovenia

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND PROCESSING OF SHORT FIBRE REINFORCED BIOCOMPOSITES

Assist. Janez Slapnik received his Diploma (MSc) in Polymer technology in 2017 from FTPO and is currently pursuing a PhD in Polymer Engineering at the University of Leoben. He joined the FTPO in 2015 and serves as an assistant. During his career, he acquired additional experience at the Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH and Vienna University of Technology. His research interests comprise additive manufacturing, functional polymeric materials, and recycling.

Fabio Sagnelli

Innovation and Funding Expert

Bioeconomy Expert-BIC consultant

CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY ECOSYSTEMS FOR A CLIMATE-NEUTRAL, SUSTAINABLE, RESILIENT AND COMPETITIVE EUROPE

Fabio Sagnelli (Innovation and Funding Expert)(represent of the Biobased Industry Consortium, being external consultant and I would present the association and opportunities in the framework of the CBE-JU PPP).
Chemical engineer graduated in 2007 at University Federico II of Naples, Fabio has worked first as researcher and then as program manager in the private sector in the field of circular bioeconomy. He is currently innovation and funding consultant having acquired a wide expertise in different regional, national and European funding programs supporting the transition towards circular (bio)-economy in the public and private sectors. In this framework, he is currently engaged as external consultant for the Biobased Industry Consortium providing technical assistance in Programming Activities.

Assoc. Prof. dr. Blaž Likozar

National Institute of Chemistry · Laboratory for Catalysis and Chemical Reaction Engineering · National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia

BIOMASS VALORISATION TO SSBD (BIO-BASED) CHEMICALS

Prof. Blaž Likozar is a head of the Department of Catalysis and Chemical Reaction Engineering at the National Institute of Chemistry (NIC), leading the programme “Chemical Reaction Engineering”, as well as numerous research projects (15 H2020 / 50 in Horizon Europe alone). His expertise lies (among others) in heterogeneous catalysis materials, modelling, simulation and optimization of process fluid mechanics, transport phenomena and chemical kinetics. He worked at the University of Delaware in 2014–2015 as a Fulbright Program researcher. He has authored >330 articles, was cited >10000 times, having a h-index of 46. He is also involved in many industrial projects, amongst others, with TotalEnergies, Evonik Industries, UPM, Novartis, Carbon Recycling International… He is a recipient of Pregl and Zois awards.

Assoc. Prof. dr. Luka Juvančič

Biotechnology, Department of Animal Science

Chair of Agricultural Economics, Policy and Law University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Slovenia

FOOD WASTE AS A SOURCE FOR PACKAGING

Luka Juvančič, agricultural and resource economist, and Associate Professor of Economics of Natural Resources at the Biotechnical Faculty. His research experience spans widely in terms of roles (researcher, principal investigator, or project leader), substance (agricultural and rural development policies, risk management, valorisation of ecosystem services, bioeconomy) and methods (econometric modelling, system modelling, environmental accounting, economic experiments). Economic, environmental and societal challenges of the transition to bioeconomy are deeply anchored in his research and professional record. He has been been actively engaging in recognising success factors and providing evidence base in several applied research projects (most notably in the context of countries participating in BIOEAST initiative). As lecturer and supervisor, he is passionately spreading the circular bioeconomy bug among students and young professionals. He actively participates in relevant professional associations and advisory bodies (eg. Co-Chair of SCAR Bioeconomy Working Group).

Judit E. Puskas, Ph. D., P. Eng

Distinguished Professor of CFAES in Polymer Science

Fellow AIMBE, IUPAC, External Member, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, The Ohio State University

BIOPOLYMER AND NANOCOMPOSITES IN THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE

Co-inventor of the polymer coating on the Taxus drug-eluting coronary stent, implanted in over 10 million people. Professor Puskas’ research is focusing on the integration of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment with breast reconstruction, in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic and Semmelweis Medical University of Hungary. In 2012 was one of the five winners of the GE Healthymagination Breast Cancer Challenge Award, selected from 400 international applications. She is the winner of the 2017 Charles Goodyear Medal, the most prestigious award given by the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society. She joined the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering (FABE) at the Ohio State University as a tenured Full Professor in January 1, 2019. She was named Distinguished Professor in January 2020. She was elected to be a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2023.

Maider Gómez Palmero

project manager in Fundación CIRCE, Spain

(round table speaker)

Maider Gómez Palmero is a Forestry Engineer and holds a degree in Environmental Sciences. She holds a Master's Degree in Renewable Energy and a Master in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. As a researcher and project manager, she has been working at CIRCE since 2006. Her lines of work cover resource evaluation, life cycle assessment in circular economy and bioeconomy projects. This includes feasibility studies for the development and implementation of new bio-based value chains, optimisation of biomass supply and logistics, energy crops development, mapping of waste and by-product sources for valorisation, as well as developments to improve resource efficiency in industries and develop bioeconomy strategies. She has also carried out work associated with environmental impact assessment to design improvement measures. She has participated in different projects such as POWER4BIO, EuroPruning, greenGain, AGROinLOG, ENERCORN, WOODE3, BIOLOC, CEE2ACT and is currently coordinator of the BRILIAN project.

Isabel De Schrijver, PhD

R&D Manager “Polymer Characterization, Processing & Recycling” and “Functional Thermoplastic Textiles”

SELF-REINFORCED BIOBASED COMPOSITES: PROPERTIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

PhD Analytical Chemistry (Ghent University) - Development and validation of methods of analysis for the determination of additives in plastics. Started in 2008 as research scientist at Centexbel in the functional thermoplastic textiles group, working on subjects like nanotechnology, fire retardancy, … Specialised in extrusion applications. Since April 1st 2014 R&D Manager PCPR (Plastic Characterisation, Processing & Recycling). Since June 2020 R&D Manager of the FTT (Functional Thermoplastic Textile) & PCPR (Plastic Characterisation, Processing & Recycling) research group. Centexbel-VKC offers a dynamic competence centre and test laboratory to the plastics processing industry. Centexbel-VKC provides services in the fields of material characterisations, failure analyses, product development, process optimisation and new applications of plastics, virgin and recycled polymers, fibre reinforced composites, rubber, coating, smart materials and biopolymers.

Marc Akermann

Project leader in Compounding and Extrusion

OST University of Applied Sciences Eastern Switzerland
IWK Institute for Material Technology and Plastics Processing, Switzerland

WELCOME IN THE JUNGLE OF BIO CERTIFICATES

Marc Akermann works as a project leader at the University of Applied Sciences Eastern Switzerland at the Rapperswil-Jona campus (formerly known as Hochschule für Technik) since 2017 in the field of mechanical engineering with a focus on materials science and plastic processing. In this function, he is responsible for projects in the field of mechanical recycling and material development through additivation, including for applications/processes with customized biodegradable materials.