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The success story of innovative cleantech companies is continuing. This is demonstrated in the Cleantech report published by Cleantech Flanders. The most recent data show that not only is the number of cleantech companies increasing, but with 1.32 billion euros in investments and almost 2,000 new employees, our cleantech is increasingly putting itself on the map, both nationally and internationally.

Biobased chemicals and materials are expected to grow significantly and increase their market share in the coming years. Large quantities of presently underutilized lignin side-streams are available from chemical pulping processes and emerging biorefineries, offering a valuable feedstock for sustainable biomaterials.

Green waste and other organic side streams can be valorised as energy, compost, fertiliser, cattle feed and ingredients for high-quality chemicals. Owing to their highly divergent properties, however, the by-product streams require a custom approach. With insect larvae as an interim step, this problem disappears, which enbables a refinement process with a single inflow. VITO is investigating the fractionation of the various larvae components within this process.

The goal was clear. In the agricultural experiment of ‘CurieuzeNeuzen in de Tuin’ we wanted to monitor the impact of heat and drought on the cultivation of potatoes in 2021. But while we were expecting again a summer of heat waves as we’ve witnessed in the past few year, we got a completely different summer. 2021 was an example on how climate change leads to more extreme weather patterns which also affect our agricultural industry.

With a large-scale sensor network of 500 sensors installed in almost 300 potato fields spread over Flanders we had the opportunity to look into the sensor data and see what the measurements in a cool and wet season tell us. Discover more about the first analyses performed and lessons learned in view of the 2022 measurements.

Blog post by Joris De Wolf