This year, 27 new KIEM GoChem projects started. In each project, SME entrepreneurs and researchers from universities of applied sciences and universities work on making chemistry more sustainable. The projects have a total budget of 1.4 million euros. The topics of the projects vary widely. For example, there is an ongoing project investigating whether a certain fungus can be used to replace environmentally unfriendly paints and coatings. The fungus already produces a substance that protects wood against rot. In this project, a fermentation process is being developed in which the fungus will also produce waterproof substances for the protection of metal.
Another project is investigating how you can recycle textiles that consist of a mix of cotton and polyester. In a previous GoChem project, a method was developed in which both components are separated. The cellulose precipitates out of the cotton and the monomers that make up the polyester remain behind in a solution. This new project investigates how the two fractions can be separated and how the monomer fraction can be purified in such a way that they can serve as raw material for new polyesters. Project summaries of all KIEM GoChem projects can be found here.
New call
Would you like to start a project yourself with a knowledge institution? A new call for projects will be published in August.This year, the scheme will reopen in August. If you would like to know whether your innovative idea fits within the scheme, please contact program manager Harmen Veldman. If desired, he can also link you to the right experts who can help you further.
More information about GoChem.
