Circular Economy: Materials and processes for the circular use of resources | From laboratory to industrial scale

Increasing use of resources, high emissions and short-lived product life cycles characterize our linear economic system and our society. The consequences for people and the environment are becoming increasingly serious. Climate neutrality and resource efficiency can be achieved with a system change to a circular economy. This circular economy requires the development of new materials, new products and services as well as innovative value chains and tailored business models. 

We support your company on the path to a circular economy: we offer extensive expertise for specific material and technology developments in chemical recycling, polymer chemistry and plastics technology as well as water treatment and nutrient recovery. With our expertise in circular resources and their ecological assessment, we support your transformation.

Which questions we support you with

Further topics

Bio-based plastics

We develop tailor-made bio-based plastics for a wide range of applications from films, fibers and injection-molded parts. We cover the entire development chain from polymerization to material characterization.

Chemicals and formulations

Many surfactants contain alcohols produced from palm oil or crude oil. We can produce identical or similar alcohols from fermentation residues.

CIRCONOMY® Hubs

Innovations for sovereign value creation cycles, climate neutrality, circularity and bioeconomy are created in CIRCONOMY® Hubs.

Development of substrate-based mushroom materials

We support you in identifying options for fungi-based materials for your applications. 

Microplastics

Fraunhofer UMSICHT has been working on microplastics and plastics in the environment since 2014. Focus areas: Sustainability assessment and development of solution strategies for reduction.

Participation and stakeholder engagement

We shape transformation processes – participatory and creative.

Plastics in the
environment

We carry out sustainability assessments and systemic considerations and offer technical solutions through optimized process and filter technologies.

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