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R&D competition for innovation
Apply your idea
Integral support
Fundación COPEC-UC has a broad portfolio of technological innovations in a variety of areas, which are at the service of industry and society. We invite you to get to know them.
Agriculture Food & Beverages Forestry Manufacturing Mining Pesticides & bio-controllers Health & Wellness Viticulture
bio-controllers
Polarity-controlled cellulose microfibers (MFC)
Dr. Alex Kurt Berg Gebert.
Chemical Civil Engineer. Dr. in Natural Sciences.
University of Concepción.
a.berg@udt.cl
Juan Ignacio Cea Roa.
Chemical Civil Engineer.
j.cea@udt.cl
Copec-UC Foundation.
Atilio Ziomi.
Commercial Manager.
aziomi@uc.cl
Science, Technology and Innovation for the Bioeconomy (UDEC).
Alex Berg.
Executive Director.
University of Concepción
Current status: In patenting process
Owners of the technology: Universidad de Concepción and Fundación Copec-UC
The project consisted of developing a technology for the manufacture of MFC with controlled polarity, for its subsequent application as a reinforcing additive in both hydrophilic and hydrophobic resins. For this purpose, the surface of the CBMs was esterified in a controlled manner, by means of acetylation, to change their surface polarity and optimize their compatibility with matrices of diverse chemical nature. Then, the reinforcing capacity of the reinforced CBMs on urea-formaldehyde (UF) adhesive resins and polypropylene (PP) plastic resins was demonstrated.
The physical and chemical characteristics of the CBMs produced during the project allow them to be homogeneously dispersed in hydrophobic polymeric matrices, unlike conventional CBMs, whose polarity makes them incompatible with these materials. Although there are similar proposals mentioned in the technical literature, the product developed stands out for its low cost and better reinforcing performance in polymers of different polarity.
As for the developed process, its main differentiating attribute is that it allows a homogeneous substitution of hydroxyl groups present in CBMs, unlike conventional processes that are difficult to control. In fact, an acetylation of macrofibrils is usually heterogeneous, with preferential substitution at the surface level, which impairs the properties of microfibrils. On the other hand, fibrillation at the micro and nanometric level increases the homogeneity of the material, improving its properties and facilitating its dispersibility in thermosetting and thermoplastic resins.
The plastics reinforced with the developed product show greater elasticity than their unmodified counterparts, whose incorporation into plastic matrices usually deteriorates the mechanical properties of the material.
The CBMs are capable of significantly improving the adhesive properties of commercial ureic resins. This makes it possible to reduce the dosage of adhesive required for the manufacture of particleboard, without impairing its mechanical properties.
Plastics processing industry
The addition of acetylated CBMs improves the tensile strength characteristics of the material, which translates into higher breaking strength. This improvement is of particular interest to plastics processors and users who require PP with improved mechanical performance. The only PP producer in the country, Petroquim S.A., has expressed interest in this technology.
Adhesive resin industries
An increase in the degree of acetylation improves the reinforcing effect of CBMs, resulting in an increase in the mechanical strength of adhesive resins. This effect has attracted the attention of the company Resinas del Bío-Bío S.A., which has shown interest in the product. Its intention is to take advantage of the reinforcing effect and the low cost of CBM, to generate a new product that will reduce the dosage of adhesive resin required in the manufacture of reconstituted wood panels.
We want you to know all our news and announcements.
UC Anacleto Angelini Innovation Center, 9th Floor.
San Joaquin Campus.
(56 2) 2354 2092
COPEC Companies
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
COPEC-UC Fund


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How much money for cycling?
By Duncan Dollimore
How much money is being allocated for cycling across the UK, what's being hidden, and how much is needed? Head of campaigns, Duncan Dollimore takes a closer look at the numbers and what we're not being told
How much money is being spent on active travel across the UK's four nations, and how much is needed, has been in the news this week.
On Wednesday, our campaigns and policy manager in Scotland Jim Densham reported on the £15 million budget boost for cycling, walking and wheeling in Scotland, while Cycling UK's policy director Roger Geffen was simultaneously explaining to a select committee in Westminster that the government was suppressing a report showing how much more money was needed to meet the government's own modest targets for increasing levels of cycling in England.
If you want to see more people cycling and you think national governments should be doing more to enable this, how much they spend on active travel is an important question. It may seem a simple one, but announcements of 'new money' are often repeated several times, the amounts aren't always put in context as a percentage of overall transport spending, and working out what's actually happening is sometimes more complex than it should be.
So, I'm going to have a whistle stop ride through what each government is promising to spend on active travel, which in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is a phrase commonly used when referring to cycling and walking, but in Scotland always means cycling, walking and wheeling.
I should say before going any further that no government in the UK is spending anywhere near enough on active travel, but I'll not keep repeating that throughout this blog because I want to look at their actual spending and spending commitments.
£15 million more in Scotland
The SNP doesn't have a majority in the Scottish Parliament, so to pass the Finance Bill (budget) it needs support from another party. In recent years the Scottish Green Party has voted to support the budget in return for extra spending on 'green priorities'.
Last year our lobbying helped to secure more money for cycling in the 2020/21 budget. This week the Scottish Government agreed to include a further £15m for active travel infrastructure following a budget deal with the Scottish Greens, taking the total budget for active travel to £115.5m in 2021/22.
Of course, a 15% increase in active travel spending for next year is good news, but it does need to be put in context. It could pay for around 7km of separated cycle lanes akin to the South City Way in Glasgow, and it brings the spending on active travel to around 3.5% of the £3.4 billion overall transport budget in Scotland.
It's only when you start looking at overall transport spending and the cost of building roads, railways and other transport infrastructure that you appreciate how little is spent on active travel in comparative terms, because a £15 million increase sounds like a lot of money – until you put it in context.
That's why in our Scottish election 2021 manifesto for cycling, we're calling for the next Scottish government to spend at least 10% of the transport budget on active travel. If you live in Scotland and agree with us that this is what's needed to ensure that cycling is for everyone, please show your support by signing our petition calling on political parties to include commitments in their manifestos to:
Invest more money in cycling
Create safe space for people to cycle, walk and wheel
Enable people in rural communities to cycle
Sign our manifesto for Scotland
Deliberately hiding evidence from parliament
My colleague Roger Geffen is polite to a fault and diplomatic by nature, so his comments this week about the government in Whitehall deliberately hiding evidence from parliament display his immense frustration that the government is still sitting on research showing how much money needs to be invested to achieve the government's target to double levels of cycling in England by 2025.
Roger has written a very detailed blog about this research and Cycling UK's efforts to get the government to release it, but I'll try and give a shorter potted summary.
The government's Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS), published in April 2017, has targets which include doubling 2013 levels of cycling by 2025. Back in 2018, the Department for Transport (DfT) commissioned a report from consultancy Transport for Quality of Life (TQL). This was publicly acknowledged by the DfT in footnote 38 on page 12 of the DfT's 'Call for evidence' for its Cycling and Walking Safety Review (only Roger would have spotted that!), noting TQL had modelled whether the government was on course to meet its targets, but it was only set to get a third of the way there, with the report to be published in early 2019.
I'll not go through the chronology in Roger's blog, but we've been asking for it ever since, and it still hasn't been published.
Jumping forward to 9 May last year, transport secretary Grant Shapps then announced £2 billion for active travel over the next five years – so £400 million a year over five years.
Little is spent on active travel in comparative terms, because a £15 million increase sounds like a lot of money – until you put it in context
Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK's head of campaigns
OK, £2 billion sounds like a lot of money, but putting that into context, the budget for investment in motorways and major A roads is £27.4 billion. The important question is also whether £2 billion over five years is enough to get anywhere near the 2025 targets for doubling cycling, or does the TQL report indicate that the government needs to massively ramp up active travel investment to do that?
Sustrans has previously calculated that the government's targets have a price tag of between £6 to £8 billion, depending on how and where it's spent, and as Roger has made crystal clear, that's what we understand the TQL report says too.
Ask yourself this question: do you really we'd have said anything publicly about this if we weren't pretty certain we were right?
Of course, if we're wrong, there's an easy way for the government to prove that – just disclose the TQL report.
£20 million more in Wales
We've often talked about the need for investment in Wales to match the ambition within the Active Travel (Wales) Act, but sadly the former has often been lacking.
That's why, as it is in Scotland for the elections in May, our Wales election 2021 manifesto for cycling calls for the next Welsh government to spend at least 10% of the transport budget on active travel.
Again, with the huge caveat that much more is needed, there's another similarity with Scotland, namely that the active budget is nudging upwards.
The March 2021 budget included an additional £20 million for active travel, increasing total planned 2021-22 investment in active travel projects and interventions to around £75m. That's on top of increases to the budget announced last summer though to put this in context again, a report commissioned by Friends of the Earth Cymru estimated that to equip a Welsh town that's an employment centre at the convergence of four major roads with parallel cycle routes extending 15 km in all directions would cost around £24 million.
So, the extra £20 million could bring huge benefits for some, but to benefit everyone and ensure that cycling is for everyone requires at least 10% of the transport budget to be spent on active travel.
If you live in Wales and agree, please show your support by signing our petition calling on political parties to include commitments in their manifestos to:
Invest, spending more money on infrastructure and behaviour change
Deliver, making it happen by creating high quality cycle lanes and liveable neighbourhoods.
Do it across Wales, connecting communities across Wales with each other and the countryside.
Sign our manifesto for Wales
You can also sign up for our online active travel hustings on the evening of 23 March.
Still waiting in Northern Ireland
With apologies to everyone in Northern Ireland, this section is somewhat brief.
Whilst draft budget plans have been published for next year the budget lines don't make clear how much is being allocated towards active travel spending. We'll report back with further detail once we've found out, but it's worth saying that last November Sustrans NI made it clear that Northern Ireland had the lowest level of official investment in active travel in the UK.
That must be particularly galling given that in the Republic of Ireland, active travel spending has gone through the roof. If anyone tells you that 10% of total transport spending on active travel is too much, it's worth pointing out that the coalition government in Ireland has committed to investing 360 million euros per year over the next five years. That's 66 euros a head, or 20% of its transport budget!
Cycling UK in Scotland Cycling UK in Wales Campaigner and activist Space for Cycling
General elections will be held in Wales and Scotland on 6 May. We're calling for new governments to invest 10% of their transport budget in cycling and walking, to ensure that cycling is for everyone.
If you share our vision that cycling should be a safe, easy and attractive option for everyone, please show your support by signing our petition.
We're calling on political parties to:
We're asking parties to commit to:
Deliver, making it happen by creating high quality cycle lanes and liveable neighbourhoods
Do it across Wales, connecting communities across Wales with each other and the countryside
Elections 2022 View
Government hiding evidence from parliament by suppressing cycle funding report View
The tale of the tortoise and the hare – cycling for everyone View
£15m budget boost for cycling, walking and wheeling in Scotland View
Budget reaction: Government "airbrushing out any role for cycling" in post-pandemic plans View

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