In the housing market enormous challenges exist for the retrofitting of existing housing in combination with the ambition to realize new environmentally friendly and affordable dwellings. Bio-based building materials offer the possibility to use renewable resources in building and construction. The efficient use of bio-based building materials is desirable due to several potential advantages related to environmental and economic aspects e.g. CO2 fixation and additional value. The potential biodegradability of biomaterials however demands also in-novative solutions to avoid e.g. the use of environmental harmful substances. It is essential to use balanced technological solutions, which consider aspects like service life or technical per-formance as well as environmental aspects. Circular economy and biodiversity also play an im-portant role in these concepts and potential production chains. Other questions arise considering the interaction with other large biomass users e.g. food production. What will be the impact if we use more bio-based building materials with regard to biodiversity and resource availability? Does this create opportunities or risks for the increasing use of bio-based building materials or does intelligent use of biomass in building materials offer the possibility to apply still unused (bio) resources and use them as a carbon sink? Potential routes of intelligent usage of biomass as well as potential risks and disadvantages are highlighted and discussed in relation to resource efficiency and decoupling concept(s).
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This teaching toolkit for critical materials research is developed for educators in higher design and arts education. It comes out of a 2-year project funded by the NRO Comenius Teaching Fellowship program at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. The project invited a group of design educators and/or researchers to develop ways to help bachelor students explore making practices that center ecosystems rather than human systems. With this toolkit, we share our tried and tested activities, which take bio-based design materials and their unique properties as a point of departure, and offer hands-on activities to critically engage in sustainable material research.
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Het Project TBTOP is een samenwerkingsproject tussen onderwijsinstellingen voor VMBO, MBO en HBO om het techniek onderwijs samen met bedrijven in de regio aantrekkelijker te maken voor studenten, docenten en bedrijfsleven. Dit wil men realiseren door meer praktijknabij onderwijs te ontwikkelen. Ook wil men de vak-disciplinaire visie op het beroep verbreden en studenten kennis laten maken met doorstroommogelijkheden in studie en beroep. Een groep projectleiders uit de verschillende onderwijsinstellingen draagt zorg voor de voortgang van de vernieuwingsprocessen en verankering in het onderwijs. De betrokkenen hebben samenwerking in een nieuwe context ervaren namelijk samenwerking met de beroepspraktijk, samenwerking met andere vakdisciplines en samenwerking met andere onderwijsinstellingen (en dus onderwijsniveaus). Het samenwerken aan praktijkopdrachten in multidisciplinaire TOPteams is een nieuw proces geweest voor docenten en bedrijfsmedewerkers. Dit proces heeft, los van de concrete producten en processen, een cultuurverandering in het onderwijs in gang gezet. Groepen docenten zijn getriggerd om over de grenzen van hun vakgebied te kijken en naar het onderwijs te kijken, vanuit de bril van de praktijk. Hiermee hebben de betrokkenen zich geprofessionaliseerd. In de film die gemaakt is naar aanleiding van dit project, vertellen betrokkenen hun ervaringen binnen de nieuwe samenwerkingsvormen. De film is interactief en op verschillende momenten in te stappen.
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Abstract of a lecture that was held on the annual congress of AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning) in 2014.
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210,000 tons of textile waste is produced in the Netherlands every year - that is equivalent to 350,000,000 pairs of jeans. There are opportunities to use this waste stream as a resource for new materials in a circular economy, however. One such new material is the biocomposite RECURF. This material was developed within the Urban Technology research programme at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and consists of a combination of non-rewearable textile fibres and a bio-based plastic. The BiOrigami project sought to explore and develop architectural applications for this new circular biocomposite. Combining Japanese origami with digital production technology, BiOrigami explores possible functional, flexible applications of the biocomposite in interior products with high experiential value for use in circular-economy architecture. Origami techniques give the material important characteristics, making it more constructive and flexible with enhanced acoustic qualities. The use of digital production techniques enables serial production, which could be scaled up at a later stage.
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Bio-based and circular building materials and techniques can play an important role in the transition toward a more sustainable construction sector. This study focuses on the Northern Netherlands and explores those competencies (in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitude) required by construction workers to meet thechallenges of material transition. The perspectives on this topic of construction companies, vocational education institutions, and local networking initiatives have been collected and analyzed by using the thematic analysis method. The results indicate that the limited knowledge availability, combined with the restricted experimentation possibilities, shape the current experiences, as well as the positioning of these stakeholders, regarding the desired competencies of construction workers. It is found that mainly attitudinal aspects of the construction workers need to receive particular attention and prioritization. To achieve that, the results highlight the importance of knowledge exchange and awareness-raising initiatives, as well as the development of a flexible, regional, and comprehensive learning environment.
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Positioning paper bij de inauguratie van Vincent Voet als lector Circular Plastics.
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![People. Planet. Polymer: een Wereld te Winnen [Inaugurele rede]](https://publinova-harvester-content-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/thumbnails/files/previews/pdf/20250506132442742072.Positioning20Paper20Vincent20Voet202024-thumbnail-400x300.png)
Standard SARS-CoV-2 testing protocols using nasopharyngeal/throat (NP/T) swabs are invasive and require trained medical staff for reliable sampling. In addition, it has been shown that PCR is more sensitive as compared to antigen-based tests. Here we describe the analytical and clinical evaluation of our in-house RNA extraction-free saliva-based molecular assay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. Analytical sensitivity of the test was equal to the sensitivity obtained in other Dutch diagnostic laboratories that process NP/T swabs. In this study, 955 individuals participated and provided NP/T swabs for routine molecular analysis (with RNA extraction) and saliva for comparison. Our RT-qPCR resulted in a sensitivity of 82,86% and a specificity of 98,94% compared to the gold standard. A false-negative ratio of 1,9% was found. The SARS-CoV-2 detection workflow described here enables easy, economical, and reliable saliva processing, useful for repeated testing of individuals.
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Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) form a highly promising class of bioplastics for the transition from fossil fuel-based plastics to bio-renewable and biodegradable plastics. Mixed microbial consortia (MMC) are known to be able to produce PHAs from organic waste streams. Knowledge of key-microbes and their characteristics in PHA-producing consortia is necessary for further process optimization and direction towards synthesis of specific types of PHAs. In this study, a PHA-producing mixed microbial consortium (MMC) from an industrial pilot plant was characterized and further enriched on acetate in a laboratory-scale selector with a working volume of 5 L. 16S-rDNA microbiological population analysis of both the industrial pilot plant and the 5 L selector revealed that the most dominant species within the population is Thauera aminoaromatica MZ1T, a Gram-negative beta-proteobacterium belonging to the order of the Rhodocyclales. The relative abundance of this Thauera species increased from 24 to 40% after two months of enrichment in the selector-system, indicating a competitive advantage, possibly due to the storage of a reserve material such as PHA. First experiments with T. aminoaromatica MZ1T showed multiple intracellular granules when grown in pure culture on a growth medium with a C:N ratio of 10:1 and acetate as a carbon source. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses upon extraction of PHA from the pure culture confirmed polyhydroxybutyrate production by T. aminoaromatica MZ1T.
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In het dagelijks leven hebben we voortdurend met verschillende plastics te maken. Overal om ons heen komen we plastics tegen. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan verpakkingsmaterialen, flessen, flacons, kratten, tapijten en plastic draagtassen. Een leven zonder kunststoffen is in onze huidige maatschappij vrijwel ondenkbaar geworden. In 2014 werd er volgens Plastics Europe [1] wereldwijd maar liefst 311.000.000 ton aan kunststoffen geproduceerd, in 1950 was dit nog slechts 1.700.000 ton. Vanaf 1950 stijgt de wereldwijde productie van kunststoffen met gemiddeld 9% per jaar. Bij de huidige productiecapaciteit komt dit volgens Plastics Europe neer op gemiddeld 40 kg/jaar per hoofd van de wereldbevolking! Naar verwachting zal het gebruik van plastics verder toenemen naar gemiddeld 87 kg/jaar per hoofd van de wereldbevolking in het jaar 2050. In Nederland ligt het verbruik momenteel op gemiddeld 126 kg per inwoner. Maar volgens prognoses van VLEEM (Very Long Term Energy Environment Model) [2] zal dit groeien naar gemiddeld 220 kg per inwoner in 2050!! De toenemende vraag naar plastics wordt mede veroorzaakt omdat plastics op zich een gemakkelijk te verwerken materiaal is. Plastics zijn relatief goedkoop, hebben een lage specifieke dichtheid (t.o.v. bijvoorbeeld metalen), en zijn snel en gemakkelijk verwerkbaar.
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