The BC offer is a broad one, encompassing products and services for a wide range of industries at every stage of the evaluation, research, product development, product trial and manufacturing processes.

News Archive 2018

December 2018

BioNASPA

BioComposites Centre is now launching a new platform of research on crop biostimulants and biofungicides, using marine resources (seaweeds, microalgae, marine plants, etc), and other terrestrial biomass that would growth on coastal regions.

The BioNASPA project will investigate crop biostimulants. These are plant nutrients that, when added in minute amounts, can increase crop production, reducing the negative impact of stress.

Biofungicides are natural products that can control plant diseases, and in our particular case, would act as vaccines for plants (making them immune to diseases) or modify the soil microbiome (providing lots of "good bacteria" to plants).

More details: www.bionaspa.com

October 2018

New book about natural materials and design

A new book published by CRC Press this September features chapters by the BC team. Designing with Natural Materials provides a useful text for those in design, materials science, materials engineering and sutainability. Edited by Dr Graham Ormondroyd (BC) and Angela Morris (the Wool Packaging Company) who are both active members of the Natural Materials Association, the book presents a broad basis for understanding materials selection, life cycle, aesthetics and performance. In a time when sustainability and environmental impact are of great interest to designers, the vast array of natural materials and emerging bio-based materials presents many options. The book is designed to bridge the gap between current scientific knowledge of materials properties and materials design considerations.

Chapters by BC staff include Natural Materials - Composition and Combinations (Morwenna Spear), Designing with the Life Cycle in Mind (Campbell Skinner) and Emerging Nature-based Materials and their Use in New Products (Morwenna Spear).

March 2018

Job oportunity at BC on ProEnrich project

An exciting opportunity to join the team at BC on the BBI joint undertaking funded Pro-Enrich project. BC are seeking to recruit a Research Officer with a background in enzymology to investigate the fractionation of a range of biomass co-product steams into valuable components, including functional proteins. Further details about the post can be found on the Bangor University website, and informal enquiries about the post can be made by contacting Dr Adam Charlton (tel: +44 (0) 1248 388072, e-mail: adam.charlton@bangor.ac.uk)

The project will demonstrate novel combinations of improved upstream pre-processing and enzymatic treatments to reduce costs and improve efficiency for isolating such value added products. The project consortium consists of partners from 7 countries across Europe, and represents the whole supply chain, including biomass production, processors and several industrial end-users.

The successful candidate will be a driven and talented individual with a strong interest in multi-disciplinary research and will be expected to commence employment on the 1st May 2018, or as soon as possible thereafter. The closing date for applications is 28th March 2018.

February 2018

Bio-based materials for construction and other non-energy uses

The BioComposites Centre has been selected to lead a consortium to deliver a review on 'The potential for using bioenergy resources for construction and other non-energy uses' for the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). This review will feed into the updated Bioenergy Review 2018, which will be published by the CCC in the autumn.

The consortium has brought together leading experts in timber and bio-based materials (BC), Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Products Declarations (JCH Industrial Ecology, Renuables) and Carbon accounting and Discounting (Professor Colin Price). The team will deliver a review of biomass use and availability in the UK, and its potential role in greenhouse gas abatement strategies. The study will include a deep review of the carbon accounting of using sequestered carbon (timber) in construction.

Dr Graham Ormondroyd, Head of Materials Research at the BioComposites Centre commented 'through our links with the industry and industrial associations the team will be able to give an in-depth analysis of the sector and a robust evaluation of the environmental benefits of the increased use of timber in construction. It is a fantastic opportunity for Bangor University to help shape the policy around future building stock towards green building and the use of timber.'

January 2018

Success for BC PhD students

Over the last month The BioComposites Centre has seen two of its PhD students take and pass their final examinations.

Bronia Stefanowski completed research in the area of improving indoor air quality through the use of modified wood panels. Bronia was examined in late December by Dr Martin Ansell of the University of Bath and Dr Lone Ross Gobakken of NIBIO, Norway.

Elie Mansour undertook research into the use of wool insulation as an absorber of VOCs and was examined in January 2018. Elie was examined by Prof. Pete Walker from University of Bath and Dr Andy Dengel of BRE.

Both Bronia and Elie were praised for the quality of their theses by their examiners. They both will graduate in July 2018.