bifa Umweltinstitut: Press release

Augsburg, 21 June 2022

bifa Umweltinstitut GmbH publishes current study results at the Bavarian Waste and Landfill Days in Augsburg with the new publication of bifa text no. 72.

Can hydrogen be produced from commercial waste if it is not recycled? The process suitable for this is gasification - a thermochemical process in which a carbon-containing feedstock is converted into a product gas at temperatures between 500 °C and 1,200 °C. The potential of such hydrogen production is being explored in the currently completed bifa study.

In the currently completed bifa study, the potential of such hydrogen production is being explored. Suitable waste streams and quantities in Bavaria, gasification technologies, development status, greenhouse gas effects as well as challenges and opportunities...

Augsburg, May 30, 2022

The special edition is an easy-to-understand objectification of widespread misconceptions on the subject of life cycle assessment with clear examples and background information.

Eco-balancing has been an important focus of work at bifa Umweltinstitut GmbH for more than 25 years. This text is not an introduction to the methodology of life cycle assessment. It also does not deal with accounting-theoretical questions, which are very important for the further development of the methodology, but are often a bit tiring for those who do not prepare accounts. Our goal is an easy-to-understand presentation of common misperceptions with clear examples and background information.

In discussions and conversations with customers or research partners, we repeatedly encounter...

Augsburg, January 18, 2021

Paper as a raw material is used for a wide variety of purposes and on a large scale. It is impossible to imagine daily life without it. A study by the bifa Umweltinstitut, sponsored by the Board of Trustees for Research and Technology of the Pulp and Paper Industry, now compiles reliable facts on the sustainability of paper production and paper use. On 57 pages, the study provides a comprehensive database especially on the topics of life cycle assessment, energy consumption, wood origin and recycling.

The study establishes that the paper industry uses wood, a renewable raw material that does not cause any greenhouse gas emissions in the balance sheet and does not impair the forest ecosystem when used sustainably. An analysis of the origin of wood indicates that...

Augsburg, 18. November 2020

Recycling metal dust from foundries is the objective of a project at the University of Augsburg. To this end, the Institute for Materials Resource Management and its project partner, bifa Umweltinstitut GmbH, entered into a cooperation with the industrial company, Ecomet Urban Metals. The project is part of the ForCYCLE II project group for greater resource efficiency in Bavarian industry and is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection.

Wherever metal is cast and machined, harmful metal dust gets into the air. Efficient extraction of such dusts is indispensable, but poses a challenge for the processing firms that have to dispose of it. Until now, no recycling methods that are suitable for comprehensive recovery of the...

Augsburg, 07 October 2020

Minister of State Glauber handed over to the bifa Umweltinstitut a grant notification worth up to Euro 155,000 for the “Hydrogen system study on producing hydrogen from waste” project. The objective of the project is to answer the following questions regarding thermochemical hydrogen production from waste in Bavaria:

What options for action are available?
What is the technical, economic and realisable potential of these options?
Which boundary conditions must be created in order to realise the potential?

The Bavarian Minister of State for the Environment and Consumer Protection (Bayerische Staatsminister für Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz), Thorsten Glauber, and Dr Fabian Mehring, Member of the Landtag and Whip of the Freien Wähler party, visited bifa on...

Augsburg, 29. September 2020

Before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, many disposal companies had problems finding facilities to accept mixed commercial waste for use in energy recovery plants. Their capacities were frequently already fully utilised. After the pandemic has ended, the situation will quickly return to being as it was before. Working on behalf of the Association of Bavarian Disposal Companies (Verband der Bayerischen Entsorgungsunternehmen e. V. - VBS), bifa examined the situation in Bavaria and options for relieving it. The study has been published in the bifa-Texte series.

Based on data in the relevant literature, bifa estimates the quantity of mixed household-type commercial waste in Bavaria to be 925,000 Mg/a. Of this, around 370,000 Mg passes through sorting...

Augsburg, 28 August, 2019

Start of a research project involving Augsburg University, bifa Umweltinstitut, four Bavarian foundries and two specialists for treatment technologies.

The topic of resource efficiency is highly relevant for the Bavarian economy, as it is very highly integrated into the international raw materials markets and would also like to continue to produce economically and in an environmentally friendly way in its locations in the long term. A modern, sustainable resource strategy is not only targeted at the start of the raw material chain (access, criticality), but it also links to the end of the material chain (residual materials, waste) to form closed recycling processes.

Prof. Dr. Richard Weihrich (MRM Institute of Augsburg University) and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Rommel...

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