News
GICON® Group at the 7th Annual Baltic Forum of Biogas and Circular Economy
Focus on latest technologies and research results
Dipl.-Ing. Falko Niebling, an expert in biogas and waste recycling, spoke about the abonocare® joint project.
As project manager of the GICON®-PBR, Dr. Stefan Matthes is significantly responsible for the innovation development of microalgae production at GICON®.
GICON® founder Prof. Jochen Großmann has been working together with the IMP PAN in Gdansk for many years. A GICON® PBR was handed over to the Polish institute for research purposes in 2018.
On 22 and 23 September 2020, the 7th Annual Baltic Forum of Biogas and Circular Economy took place in Gdansk, Poland. GICON® sponsored the event and participated in the conference program with two technical presentations. The two-day event, which this year took place exclusively digitally due to COVID-19 limitations, was opened by Prof. Adam Cenian from the Szewalski Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IMP PAN). GICON® and the IMP PAN in Gdansk have had intensive scientific connections for several years. For example, they have been conducting joint research on the topic of microalgae. A photobioreactor (GICON® PBR) developed by GICON® for the cultivation of microalgae was handed over to the IMP PAN in 2018 for joint research purposes in order to pursue the goal of further developing the temperature control solutions at the Gdansk research site even more specifically in the future.
Microalgae research and sustainable use of resources
This year, the focus was on the abonocare® project, in which GICON® is actively involved, and the use of microalgae. Dr. Stefan Matthes (GICON®) presented the latest findings and research activities on the future-oriented topic of microalgae. For the last year, the world's first module of the GICON® PBR Octagon has been successfully operated at the Cottbus research site, an important milestone for the future industrial use of GICON® PBR. The "Christmas tree reactor" and the double-chamber tube enable, among other things, the algae biomass to be maintained at a specific temperature, thus ensuring ideal growth conditions under a wide range of climatic conditions. The harvested biomass can be used as a food supplement, an animal feed additive and as a raw material for many other biotechnological products.
Falko Niebling (GICON®) presented in his lecture processes and technologies for nutrient recovery from organic residues. Within the abonocare® project, technology chains are to be developed from innovative individual technologies to market maturity and ultimately also applied economically. abonocare® itself is a joint project started in 2019, which is part of the program "Innovative regional growth cores" funded by the German government. As a founding member, GICON®, together with 17 other partners, is helping to demonstrate numerous treatment processes with integrated nutrient fractionation for use with organic residual materials. There is still great potential for optimization, especially in the recycling of organic residues, such as organic waste or lawn/garden waste. Too many of the nutrients they contain, which could be used as fertilizers in agriculture, are lost with today's disposal and recycling methods.
Further background information on GICON®'s participation in the abonocare® project can be found under the following LINK or directly at www.abonocare.de. Details on GICON® PBR.
