Bio-based Materials and Biotechnologies for Eco-efficient Construction (Woodhead Publishing Series in Civil and Structural Engineering) - Softcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Dr. F. Pacheco Torgal is a Principal Investigator at the University of Minho in Portugal. He holds the title of Counsellor at the Portuguese Engineers Association. He is a member of the editorial boards for nine international journals. Over the last 10 years he has participated in the research decision for more than 460 papers and has also acted as a Foreign Expert on the evaluation of 22 PhD thesis. Over the last 10 years he has also been a Member of the Scientific Committees for more than 60 conferences, most of them held in Asian countries. He is also a grant assessor for several scientific institutions in 15 countries, including the UK, US, Netherlands, China, France, Australia, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Spain, Czech Republic, Chile, Saudi Arabia, UA. Emirates, Croatia, Poland, and the EU Commission. In the last 10 years, he reviewed more than 70 research projects.

Dr. Volodymyr Ivanov has more than 40 years of teaching and research experience on Environmental, Industrial, and Construction Microbiology and Biotechnology in the universities of Europe, Asia, and USA. He has authored 200 papers, patents, book chapters and 8 monographs. His textbook “Environmental Microbiology for Engineers”, Francis & Taylor, 1st (2010) and 2nd (2015) editions, has been adopted for graduate and post-graduate courses in many universities. His research experience includes the supervision and participation in numerous projects on biotechnologies with biofilms and biogranules, microbial transformations of iron, biocementation, bioclogging, bioremediation of soil, and microbiological monitoring of water quality.

Daniel C.W. Tsang is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Pao Yue-Kong Chair Professor at the State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization of Zhejiang University in China. He was a Professor and MSc Programme Leader at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, a Visiting Professor at the University of Queensland in Australia and Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University in the US, an IMETE Scholar at Ghent University in Belgium, and a postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College London in the UK. With over 20 years of R&D experience, he has published more than 600 articles in top-tier journals and has been recognized among Stanford University’s Top 2% Scientists and Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers in the fields of Engineering and Environment & Ecology. His team is dedicated to developing green technologies for long-term decarbonization and promoting resource circularity and sustainable development. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of npj Materials Sustainability (Springer Nature), Chairman of the Hong Kong Waste Management Association (2023-2025), and Chairman of the Waste Management Subcommittee of the Advisory Council on the Environment (2023 & 2024) of the Hong Kong SAR Government.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Over the past few years there has been a marked increase of interest in the bio-based economy. Biotechnology is one of the world's fastest growing industries, with it being one of the ‘six’ Key Enabling Technologies funded by the EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020. As such, it is likely to become a hot topic area of research in the future, allowing for radical changes in the eco-efficiency of construction materials and technologies.

The last few years have witnessed a tremendous increase in the number of citations given for papers published on bio-based polymers (around 1000% in the last 10 years). One area that has received increased attention is Biotech admixtures that are made in fermentation processes by employing bacteria or fungi. Their biosynthesis rate is about 2-4 times higher than that of plant-based biopolymers. The advancements that have occurred in the last decade in nanotechnology will also allow for the development of new and improved biotech-based materials. Investigations on cellulose nanocrystals (cellulose elements having at least one dimension in the 1-100nm range) constitute an important and recent research field that will enable the development of more eco-efficient high-performance materials. The future potential of nanocellulose materials can also be witnessed from the exponential increase in the number of papers published in this important scientific field.

Bio-based Materials and Biotechnologies for Eco-efficient Construction fills a gap in the published literature discussing bio-based materials and biotechnologies that are crucial for a more sustainable construction industry. With comprehensive coverage and contributions from leading experts in the field of eco-efficient and bio-based materials the contents are divided over three parts. Part One discusses Bio-based materials and biotechnologies for infrastructure applications; Part Two focuses on bio-based materials and biotechnologies for building energy efficiency and Part Three looks at other applications such as using biotechnology to reduce indoor air pollution, for water treatment and soil decontamination.

The book will be an essential reference resource for academic researchers, civil engineers, contractors working in construction works, postgraduate students and other professionals interested in eco-efficient construction.