Autor: Dirk Oberschmidt

100 years ago the plastic era began with the first industrial production of plastic from petroleum. The polluting degradation of common plastic takes hundreds of years. Therefore, so-called bioplastic are becoming more popular in society. However, not every bioplastic is biodegradable or produced from renewable resources. This article focuses on the production of microbial produced polyesters with comparable properties to polyethylene, which is completely biodegradable in common habitats and can by synthesized from biogenic feedstocks.

Cell disruption technologies used in industry and research are versatile and divided into biological, chemical and physical technologies. Physical technologies are subdivided into mechanical and non-mechanical. Common used cell disruption devices like the French Press does not enable a continuously cell disruption with a high amount of sample volumes. The text at hand describes a new continuously operating cell disruption device developed at Fraunhofer-Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology. Concluding the application possibilities and potentials are described.

The aim of a sustainable production can only be achieved if an integrated approach is adopted. The article describes how fluid management and hygienic plant design influence sustainability and efficiency of a production processes.