Glycans represent a previously underestimated class of substances for material use. They can primarily be obtained from carbohydrate-rich or lignocellulosic material streams through extraction.



The major challenge is the cost efficiency and resource requirements of the technologies available to date. On the one hand, this concerns extraction and purification for production, and on the other hand, further processing, as chemical modifications are required for material use.



Depending on the type of biogenic material flow, polyphenols and non-polar carboxylic acids are the main by-products of glycans with comparable value creation potential, the potential of which will also be evaluated. The project is developing the scientific basis for new extraction and modification processes for glycans and their by-products.



The orientation of the new processes is geared towards increasing competitiveness compared to industrially used cellulose and starch derivatives as well as petroleum-based polymers in coatings, inks and additives.



G. Meyer, M. Wolf, S. Hanstein and M. Rose, Mechanocatalytic partial depolymerization of lignocellulosic feedstock towards oligomeric glycans, Sustain. Energy Fuels, 2023, 7, 1870-1877.

 https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SE00111C 



G. Meyer, Mechanocatalytic partial depolymerization of lignocellulosic raw materials to functional glycans, TU Darmstadt, 2023, Dissertation.  https://doi.org/10.26083/tuprints-00024286 



G. Meyer, M. Rose, Systematic investigation of the mechanocatalytic partial depolymerization of cellulose towards oligomeric glycans, ChemRxiv, 2023, preprint.

 https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-75wd5 



Wolf, M.; Berger, F.; Hanstein, S.; Weidenkaff, A.; Endreß, H.-U.; Oestreich, AM; Ebrahimi, M.; Czermak, P.: Hot-water hemicellulose extraction from fruit processing residues. ACS Omega 7, 2022, pp. 13436-13447.

 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c06055 



Wolf, M.; Hanstein, S.; Schmitz, O.; Czermak, P.; Ebrahimi, M.: Depolymerization of hemicelluloses utilizing hydrothermal and acid catalyzed processes proceed by ultrafiltration as fractionation media. Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications 6 2023, pp. 100355-100364.

 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carpta.2023.100355