The Sustainable Polymer Chemistry (SPC) group (Faculty of S&T, MESA+ Institute) with Prof. Frederik Wurm as project leader, will be involved in a novel European Project with a total funding of 6.9 million euros. The main objective of the project, entitled SPIN-FERT, is to integrate optimised and validated innovations in soil management practices and improve peat-free substrates to enhance soil health in vegetable, fruit and ornamental crops.
For the project, a PhD student in the SPC group will develop new biodegradable encapsulation technologies for biologicals. SPC has broad experience in biobased and biodegradable polymer materials. The research group will use various biobased polymers to encapsulate different biological organisms, such as fungal strains and bacteria. These shall substitute agrochemicals for plant protection and enhance the solid properties. The latter is the main motivation to reduce the use of peat in agriculture as peat is a CO2 sink and therefore an essential part of fighting climate change.
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The project SPIN-FERT (Innovative practices, tools and products to boost soil fertility and peat substitution in horticultural crops) receives a total funding of more than 6.9 million euros. Of which, 500 thousand euros will go to UT’s part of the project. SPIN-FERT will be coordinated by the InHort Institute (Poland), with 20 partners from academia and industry. Sustainable Polymer Chemistry (SPC; Faculty of S&T / MESA+ Institute) is a research group in the Department of Molecules and Materials.
