Materials and molecules from plants
The Materials and molecules from plants team is an expert in the valorization of plant biomasses and co-products of transformation processes in the form of bioproducts. The biomasses studied are mainly tropical and temperate woods, natural rubber and transformation co-products. Our research issues are the characterization of the properties of interest of the biomasses, the improvement of the knowledge of the physico-chemical mechanisms involved during the transformation and the influence of the properties of the raw materials, the construction of paths of sustainable valorization of the biomass and the development of methods of multicriteria analysis of the production systems.
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The Materials and molecules from plants team is an expert in the valorization of plant biomasses and co-products of transformation processes in the form of bioproducts. The biomasses studied are mainly tropical and temperate woods, natural rubber and transformation co-products. Our research issues are the characterization of the properties of interest of the biomasses, the improvement of the knowledge of the physico-chemical mechanisms involved during the transformation and the influence of the properties of the raw materials, the construction of paths of sustainable valorization of the biomass and the development of methods of multicriteria analysis of the production systems. -
The activities carried out on the valorization of plant biomasses and co-products of transformation processes in the form of bioproducts are based on equipment and testing devices specific to each field of expertise of the team (process engineering, materials science, chemistry and biochemistry, environmental assessment). The biomasses studied are mainly tropical and temperate woods, natural rubber and co-products of transformation processes. These resources are organized into four laboratories: physical and mechanical characterizations, wood preservation, extractions and biochemical analyses, machining center. -
CIRAD, through its BioWooEB (Biomass, Wood, Energy, Bioproducts) Research Unit, is an expert in tropical and Mediterranean timber. In France and in the producing countries, it provides support for the timber sector: forest operators and planners, primary and secondary processing companies (small-scale units, SMEs, industries), project managers, contractors, architects, monitoring offices, consultancy firms, etc. -
Our core expertise is the study of the determinants of the quality of natural rubber. The biological origin of natural rubber gives it unequalled characteristics but more variable than those of its synthetic competitors. This variability is, in particular, linked to very diverse production conditions. The standard quality criteria, defined for most of them in the 1960s, are no longer sufficient to predict behaviour during the second transformation (mixing, shaping, vulcanization) which is increasingly automated and therefore less tolerant to variability. The main scientific objective of our activities is therefore to better understand this variability and to identify more relevant new predictive criteria. This new knowledge will also make it possible to target new treatments (physical, thermal and/or (bio)chemical-biological processes) to reduce the variability of natural rubber quality. Depending on the needs we can offer services of service analysis, technical expertise, training but also collaborative research projects.