Funding tool: Basic research projects
Project-ID: FTI20-002
Project start: 01. November 2021
Project end: will follow
Runtime: 36 months / ongoing
Funding amount: € 199.274,00

Brief summary:

Straw from wheat and other cereals is a widely available renewable fibrous resource, which is little used outside of agriculture, let alone in high-value applications. In the present project, partial delignification and densification will be employed to transfer the advantages of the biologically optimised straw structure to a new type of renewable composite material suitable for high performance and high-value structural parts. In an interdisciplinary cooperation between BOKU, Wood K plus, and NDU, potential applications for this new material will be evaluated in a design process and their techno-economic feasibility will be assessed. By upgrading the agricultural by-product straw to a high-performance structural material, multiple benefits will be achieved in terms of supporting regional agricultural production and reducing CO2 emissions by integrating straw into durable materials and substituting harmful fossil-based materials in times of climate change.