Abstract
The implementation of the principles of circular economy in the real life creates major challenges for the actors of research & development and innovation sectors. We want to overcome some of these challenges in the 2nd and 3rd phase of the Thematic Research Program, by following the research directions used in the 1st phase.
The current and future research results and plans of the two high potential research groups are described below:
The Bioeconomy Research Group works on biological yield enhancement by developing and producing microbial additives. These additives enhance plant growth and development by increasing the resilience of the plant, supporting the nutrient uptake, or by supporting the replacement of soil resources. The testing of the effects of the additives is made with modern tools like agricultural drones and multispectral cameras. The test results are validated by analytical chemistry and molecular biology measurements as well. The innovativeness of this research direction originates from the complexity of the measure methods and from the technology-based approach.
The mentioned research group focuses on the support of herb and spice cultivation, which increases the novelty of their work.
The activities of the Raw Material Utilization Research Group are mainly focused on the extraction of rare earth metals, insofar as the goal is to mobilize the metal content of mine waste, industrial waste and slag, or to selectively extract the metal ions in liquid phase. Laboratory and field tests are planned to be done together with university and corporate partners, sometimes in international cooperation.
The activities of these two research groups are connected, because the herbal and spice plants developed and produced by the Bioeconomy Research Group are examined by the Raw Material Utilization Research Group. They carry out experiments on the extraction of active ingredient content. They also investigate how the leftover biomass could be used as metal ion binding adsorbents and what kind of modifications could lead to selectivity and capacity increase.
Thus, the two mentioned research groups work on the cultivation of herbal and spice plants and its smart support, and on the multi-purpose utilization of the biomass produced, with a special focus on extracting rare earth metals from secondary raw materials and thereby supporting the concept of circular economy, environmental protection and smart farming.
Hungary