Technologies

Bivalve mollusc shells are made mainly of CaCO₃ (ca 95%), with a small fraction of organic material. If from these shells this mineral is retrieved, they could become a renewable and sustainable “mine” of a “blue” CaCO₃. Bivalve mollusc shells, also after the removal of the animal flesh, maintain a certain quantity of organic substances, part in the muscle and part in the shell.

B-ME developed the first thermoplastic composite electrode film based on bio-derived and biodegradable polyesters and carbon nano-fibers. It is metal-free, highly electrically conductive and possess good thermo-mechanical properties, a challenging combination of three features in a single product. This is the first-of-its-kind product, as, to the best of our knowledge, no thermoplastic biobased electrode film has been effectively produced and used so far.

A virtuous multi-step biorefinery platform to convert urban biowaste into valuable molecules, not disregarding renewable energy and digestate production. The strategy is based on the integration of a thermal pretreatment capable of significantly increasing the fraction of fermentable organic carbon, in order to furthermore change the status of the feedstock to become more suitable for production of a) high-value bio-based molecules, b) biomethane and c) hygienized digestate to be recycled as biofertilizer.

We propose an optical technique for the fast check of the presence, on the exposed surfaces of persons and objects, of explosives and their precursors, or drugs, or in general materials which are not allowed in restricted environments: airports, courts, places of worship, etc. The technique yields bi-dimensional pictures, with exposure time of < 1 sec, reporting the target substances, and their locations and quantities. The technique already provided laboratory preliminary results, to be completed, and fully validated for sensitivity and selectivity.

The object of the technology is the development of a transferable methodology from the laboratory scale to the pilot scale to be validated in the industrial setting for the treatment of basic waste of natural polymers of agro-food or manufacturing industry.

The instrument which is under development is a non-conventional portable Raman spectrometer. Raman spectrometers provide the molecular composition of the material surfaces, essential for their identification. The instrument peculiarity relies in the simultaneous acquisition of Raman spectra at imaged position and at different micrometric distances (offset) from the laser illumination area.

Polymer development is approaching to a new stage of advancement in which new functionalities especially in combination with conductive polymers and nanomaterials are more effective. In this context the study of new composites is the key to enable the development of disruptive technologies as additive manufacturing. Increasing electrical conductivity open the way to a new class of objects to be prototyped rapidly at low cost with a high level of customization.