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Lignin is one of the most abundant renewable resources and is a common by-product of paper industry. Lignin with its complex aromatic polymer structure, forms an interesting raw material for obtaining chemicals like catechol, benzene and phenolic compounds. The mildest possible processing of lignin are enzymes like peroxidases and laccases which were used to specifically extract aromatic monomers such as catechol and vanillin. Two different lignins were analyzed, one lignin from Miscanthus and one of wheat straw. The conversion of lignins with enzymes showed that wheat straw lignin, with its lower molecular fraction is more suitable than the lignin from Miscanthus. Enzymic treatment without further energy consumption, result in up to 11 wt.% catechol and up to 15 wt.% monomers in total., Proceedings of the 28th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-9 July 2020, Virtual, pp. 638-643

Due to environmental restriction laws in oil production and processing, there is a high demand for the oil industry to reduce the use of chemical demulsifiers and to employ safer, less toxic materials. The purpose of this research is to investigate whether Alginite, a naturally occurring and abundant oil-shale rock, can be utilised as an alternative, environmentally friendly and low-cost material to demulsify various water-in-crude oil emulsions (W/O). Three W/O emulsions were prepared using saline water with respectively light, medium and heavy crude oils. The properties of the crude oils were analysed and the effectiveness of Alginite to demulsify the corresponding W/O emulsions was investigated. The results confirm that naturally occuring Alginite exhibits exceptional water-removing capacity even from emulsions containing heavy crude oil, leaving only < 1.0 wt.-% water in the remaining demulsified oil, which satisfies the required specification for industrial applications. Alginite was shown to reduce viscosity and to deform the dispersed phase in W/O emulsions even in the absence of flow. The results of this work indicate that Alginite is of significant interest in petroleum research, in industrial oil processing as well as in environmental remediation.

The book chapter is about the geology of rare earth elements, their mineral carrier as well as secondary raw materials.

Germanium is a metalloid with great potential for industrial use. Currently, the semiconductor is primarily recovered as a by-product during the exploitation of zinc. The global zinc mine and metal production, however, has been decreasing over the last years, which may result in a production to consumption deficit for germanium. “PhytoGerm” is part of the r³-initiative for tech metals and resource efficiency, a subsidy program of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Within this context, the PhytoGerm project focuses on alternative methods to extract germanium. The suggested mining process operates with ribbon grass which is capable of accumulating germanium from soils, e.g. from mine tailings. After harvesting germanium-enriched plants, the biomass is ensiled and biogas is produced by fermentation. This study analyzes the economic pre-feasibility of this process, whereby the results reveal that germanium can be obtained economically by means of phytomining under certain preconditions (i.e. absorption of 10 ppm germanium in dry biomass, twice the current price of germanium(IV)-oxide).

The investigated Penicillium verruculosum cellulase complex exhibits significant advantages in comparison to the worldwide used Trichoderma reesei cellulase complex. This is demonstrated for example in a higher resistance towards ethanol and in increased ß-glucosidase content. Hence it could be established that there is no accumulation of cellobiose. Thus there is no product inhibition of the enzyme complex observable. Furthermore different chemical pre-treatment methods were tested for their suitability for bioethanol production. Pre-treatment of wheat straw with performic acid was compared with treatment with sodium hydroxide. As a result of both methods lignin content decreased and hydrolysis yield increased up to factor of ten. Kinetic studies of this pre-treated feedstock shows a much higher initial rate of alkaline pre-treated straw than the acid pre-treated straw. Investigations on the adsorption behaviour of cellulases onto different lignocellulosic materials show that lignin exerts undesired effects on enzymatic lignocellulose treatment., Proceedings of the 21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 June 2013, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 1378-1381

Im Erzgebirge wurde über Jahrhunderte hinweg Erzbergbau betrieben. Abhängig vom Stand der Technik wurden nicht auszubringende oder nicht verwertbare Bestandteile des geförderten Gesteins aufgehaldet. Daher existieren als Hinterlassenschaft des Erzbergbaus des vorigen Jahrhunderts auch heutzutage noch etliche große Bergehalden, Spülhalden und Waschsandhalden aus der Aufbereitung sowie Schlacke- und Flugstaubablagerungen aus der Verhüttung. Diese Halden enthalten noch für die damalige Aufbereitung zu fein verwachsenes Material bzw. Restkonzentrationen der abgebauten Erzmetalle – z. B. Zinn, Zink, Silber oder Wolfram – und Begleitelemente, wie Lithium oder Indium. Einige der Metalle, die bei der historischen Gewinnung wirtschaftlich von wenig Interesse waren, sind heute von wirtschaftsstrategischer Relevanz.

Within the framework of the EU Raw Materials Initiative a number of raw materials have been identified essential for the success of the European industry. These strategic elements suffer from high economic pressure due to the increase of demand compared to world production. One of these raw materials is germanium. It is typically recovered as a by-product from zinc, copper and lead ore processing. An economically promising alternative for germanium recovery is seen in phytomining, where the element of demand is extracted from soils and accumulated in biomass. Subsequent dual use of the biomass for production of biogas as well as for the recovery of germanium renders this technology truly green. Within the project the goal is to develop a process, which combines a strategy for germanium recovery from biomass as well as the use of the biomass for energy production. In this context pre-treatment seems to be one of the keys to generate different fractions of organic material as well as inorganic compounds, thus allowing for efficiently producing biogas from the cellulose fraction and recovering the raw material germanium., Proceedings of the 21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 June 2013, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 1023-1025