Research • Educate • Connect
Towards a sustainable bioeconomy

Research • Educate • Connect
Towards a sustainable bioeconomy

Popular success despite pandemic: The MS Wissenschaft ends its bioeconomy tour

Heiner Witte / Wissenschaft im Dialog

For two summers, the floating bioeconomy exhibition on the MS Wissenschaft was on the move on German and Austrian inland waterways. On the converted cargo ship, many facets of the bioeconomy could be discovered at around 30 interactive exhibits. These included biodegradable plastics made from renewable raw materials or agriculture of the future. The exhibition showed that an economy based on renewable raw materials is possible - and what a key role science plays in the development toward a sustainable economy.

Heiner Witte / Wissenschaft im Dialog

The exhibit "Clean water through algae" was contributed by the Bioeconomy Science Center and IBG-2 Plant Sciences, Forschungszentrum Jülich. It illustrates in the form of a pinball machine the so-called AlgalTurfScrubbing, in which wastewater is passed over an algal turf. The algae absorb nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate and use them for their growth. The result is clean water and a nutrient-rich algae biomass that can be used as fertilizer. In this way, nutrients are recycled instead of ending up in sewage sludge or water bodies. At the "Algae Flipper," phosphate and nitrate are represented by colored balls that are held magnetically on a surface and can be "harvested."

The exhibition, which was held in compliance with the Corona event rules, was very well attended and received enthusiastic comments from visitors in the guest book. It ended in Nuremberg on October 26. After the winter break, MS Wissenschaft will start again in 2022, with a new exhibition on the theme of the next Year of Science.

 

More Information about the MS Wissenschaft: https://ms-wissenschaft.de/de/

More information about the Science Years: https://www.wissenschaftsjahr.de

More information about water cleaning with algae: https://blogs.fz-juelich.de/biooekonomie/2020/07/30/naehrstoffrecycling-mit-algen-der-algenflipper-auf-der-ms-wissenschaft/