07. Dec 2017
On December 6, the first, second and third place winners of the Biocomposite of the Year 2017 innovation award were announced during the Biocomposites Conference Cologne (BCC) this week in Cologne, Germany.
At the well-attended Biocomposites Conference Cologne (BCC), which was organized by nova-Institute on December 6-7, the three winners were selected from a shortlist of six nominees by the 230 conference attendees. The first prize went to the GreenBente 24, made by German boat builder GreenBoats. LignoLoc, a product from Austria took second place, with the fully bio-based pedestrian bridge built in Eindhoven, in the Netherlands coming in a close third.
The Innovation Award, sponsored by Coperion GmbH (Germany) highlights biocomposites and biocomposite applications that were introduced onto the market in 2017 or are just about to be launched. The use of natural fibre and wood-plastic composites in increasing rapidly in a wide range of applications such as construction, automotive and consumer goods. Special appearance and haptic, green image, weight savings, shorter cycle times, scratch resistance and, above all, a lower CO2 footprint are important factors for this trend.
The winning entries:
First place: the GreenBente24, entered by GreenBoats, a mass-produced boat built from renewable materials, rather than fossil-based resins, glass fibres and plastic foam. The GreenBente24 is made predominantly – around 80% - from renewable materials such as flax, cork and bio-based epoxy resin. The GreenBente24 has the same weight and stiffness as a standard boat.
http://www.green-boats.de/greenbente
Second place: LignoLoc®– Collated wooden nails, entered by Raimund Beck Nageltechnik GmbH (Austria). Nails made from wood are among the oldest known fasteners in the world. Now, Raimund Beck Nageltechnik GmbH (AT) has developed LignoLoc® – collated wooden nails for use with pneumatic nailers. This new technology requires no pre-drilling; offers maximum holding power due to a natural welding effect with the base wood and offers new application fields for domestic beech wood veneer. The product can replace steel nails in many applications.
http://www.beck-lignoloc.com/en
Third place: a fully bio-based pedestrian bridge, the firs in the world, installed at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. After a successful load test (5,0 kN/m2), the bridge was installed by the company NPSP bv (NL). Flax and hemp fibres provide the strength for the bridge, combined with a bio-based epoxy resin. Polylactic acid (PLA) bio-foam provides the core. The production method was vacuum-infusion: layers of natural fibres were glued around a laser-cut shape of bio-foam.
https://is.gd/2yTqGa
http://www.biocompositescc.com/award