Interview with Michael Carus, managing director, nova-Institute GmbH.

Inside Composites: Would you please briefly outline the nova-Institut’s activities and goals for Inside Composites readers?

Michael Carus: nova-Institute is a research institute working in the field of the bio-based economy, which includes all kinds of biocomposites. Our services are life cycle assessments (LCA), techno-economic evaluations (TEE) and especially market research. We have many customers from the automotive and construction industry as well as those in consumer goods.

You will speak on new developments in biocomposites and bio-based plastics for the automotive industry at the forthcoming bioCAR! Conference in Stuttgart on September 20-21st. Where are such products currently employed on vehicles?

MC: Several biocomposites with natural and wood fibres are established in the automotive industry. These are especially press moulded interior parts with natural and wood fibres and petrochemical thermoplastics or thermosets. Here we see a continuous improvement in light-weight properties. There are also new materials made with a combination of press moulding and injection moulding. The use of bio-based polymers is also increasing....

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