This is the research of the Biobased Performance Materials (BPM) Programme of Wageningen Food & Biobased Research. It is not about academic exercises, but about practice-oriented research, together with companies, on real biobased products that come onto the market. Like injection molded products from bio-PBS, which makes polypropylene superfluous, sound-absorbing resin for train and tram rails, made from pure vegetable oil and roofing that has the properties of bitumen, but does not contain a drop of petroleum.
These are a few of the examples that recently passed at the BPM symposium. ‘Not a scientific conference, but ‘a business-oriented symposium with a scientific character’, says programme director Christiaan Bolck. Research with companies and cooperation within supply chains is therefore an essential part of the Biobased Performance Materials programme.