Biological polymers derived from fungi and cellulose to replace the skin on the cars of the future. Wolfsburg is not just the beating heart of the Volkswagen group. In fact, the German city also operatesOpen Hybrid LabFactory, a research structure that sees the involvement of public and private companies, as well as educational institutions. The city of, for example, operates within this campus Wolfsburg, L’Automotive Research Center Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony Automotive Research Center), la Fraunhofer Society and theTechnical University of Braunschweig, in addition to many suppliers of the Group Volkswagen, in particular those that deal with metal processing and plastic.
“We want to design processes, materials and components to improve the circular economy. For this we are developing new plastics from recycled materials; we also want to automate the dismantling processes to make it economical to separate raw materials and we are choosing natural materials in organic cycles” has explained Marko Gernuks, which represents Volkswagen on the OHLF Board of Directors. Within the facility, the focus is on researching sustainable materials that can replace leather on next-generation vehicles. Volkswagen has already made a commitment from this point of view, with the choice not to use derivation animal for the cars of the range ID. A choice that will soon be made also on the other vehicles in the range in order to reduce the environmental impact, considering that thecarbon footprint of the skin is relatively high compared to others materials.
According to the researchers Volkswagen, “Biomaterials have enormous potential, even beyond industrial crops such as rapeseed and coniferous wood, and can be produced in the laboratory. For example, cellulose in its natural state is found in the cell walls of plants, but it can be created in the laboratory using bacteria. Natural polymers have many useful properties, for example they are highly stable and consistent; in addition, in pure, non-hybrid form, they are suitable for the recycling process and can be composted after use. Inside the Open Hybrid LabFactory, pure cellulose can be grown in the desired forms and it is an easily scalable process that can be easily adapted to vertical farming systems. Furthermore, being a completely organic substance, pure cellulose is perfect for the organic circular economy. “
There cellulose it’s a matter first important in materials research. Specifically, the researchers of the Open Hybrid LabFactory are experimenting with a method in which gods bacteria they are fed in a sugary solution, generating cellulose in pure form. Once the growth process is finished, that is, when the piece of cellulose reaches the desired size, i researchers they “wash” it by removing bacteria and then dry it, through several steps. We then move on to post-processing and drying, to finish with the insertion of an organic plasticizer that creates the desired smoothness of the material. The Volkswagen Group is involved – together with companies from the fashion, waste disposal and tanneries sectors – also in another research project for materials sustainable which studies the potential of natural polymers based on mycelium, that is, the vegetative system of mushrooms.
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