Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI)

Welcome to RBI

Georgia Tech’s Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI) champions innovation in converting biomass into value-added products, developing advanced chemical and bio-based refining technologies, and advancing excellence in manufacturing processes. Our three strategic thrusts are circular materials; bioindustrial manufacturing; and paper, packaging, and tissue. The Renewable Bioproducts Institute was formerly named the Institute of Paper Science and Technology.

We serve as a campus conduit for industry-university partnerships and provide a portal to Georgia Tech core laboratories, faculty, and students whose work and expertise is focused on biomass, bioproducts, and circular materials. RBI is one of ten campus interdisciplinary research institutes.

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Blair Brettmann, associate professor at Georgia Tech

A Profile on RBI Initiative Lead Blair Brettmann

A brief Q&A with Blair Brettmann, associate professor, Solvay Faculty Fellow, and Raymond and Stephanie Myers Faculty Fellow in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, who co-leads the interface of polymer science and wood-based materials initiative with Will Gutekunst at the Renewable Bioproducts Institute.

Georgia Tech Scientist Boosts Forestry Industry With Cutting-Edge Tree Cloning

Ulrika Egertsdotter, a principal research scientist at Georgia Tech’s Renewable Bioproducts Institute, plays a key role in supporting the Georgia forestry industry. Through her work, she helps Georgia tree growers propagate new plants that provide higher-quality wood products and offer greater resilience to climate change.

Professional Master's in Manufacturing Leadership

Transform your career with our Professional Master's in Manufacturing Leadership (Online). You'll learn how to propel your organization forward by working on real-world problems to build your skills in operations and personnel management.

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Bioindustrial Manufacturing and Biorefining

Bioindustrial manufacturing and biorefining is focused on biobased products and chemical bioprocessing. Bioproducts research at RBI builds on decades of experience collaborating with pulp and paper manufacturers – extending today into a broad array of industries interested in creating value from forest and agricultural materials. We are also interested in addressing the fundamental and manufacturing challenges for future high margin/high volume products from biomass, with a traditional focus on forest biomaterials.

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Pulp, Paper, Packaging and Tissue

We continue to explore the seemingly limitless possibilities of paper. From tree to tissue, or to package, or to stationery, magazine or newspaper or thousands of other products—pulping liberates fibers from woody plants and rearranges them into a consistently formed end products. The science rests in efficient processes that conserve energy and raw materials while producing the desired product.

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Circular Materials

Our “Circular Materials” research focuses on polymer-based materials, including composites, with the ultimate goal of identifying materials and/or processes that can minimize the use of non-sustainable resources (fossil fuels) as feedstocks or energy sources. This is a complex challenge that demands a multidisciplinary approach combining fundamental science and engineering to create the necessary materials and technologies to underpin circular systems but also policy and economics to enable society to make the transition to a circular economy.

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Science and Engineering of Natural Feedstocks

Our overall goal is to identify and characterize the natural and engineered production of feedstock materials to meet future demand. Our research includes (1) Efforts to find new natural products and understand how they can be produced, (2) Use a systems and synthetic biology approach to understand the metabolism of plants and other organisms (3) Understand the mechanisms for propagating organisms to design methods fto develop improved plants, algae, and microbes.

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Research Services

The research services team was created to oversee all activities related to research services for both internal and external customers. RBI's Testing Services include chemical analysis; corrosion; microscopy; paper, board and box testing; pulp analysis; and recovery. The multidisciplinary capabilities of the team make it uniquely qualified to address customers' technical needs in the areas of process and product development and quality control.

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Activities and Engagement Report for 2023

RBI's Activities and Engagement Report covering the 2023 calendar year shows impactful research publications, workshops, and supported Ph.D. fellows. There are links in the table of contents to the publications, and title pages of each paper published through RBI.

2023 Activities and Engagement Report

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RBI Insights is a monthly newsletter that is intended for Georgia Tech researchers, faculty and students, interested in knowing more about the work we do at RBI and engaging with the Renewable Bioproducts Institute. The newsletter reaches your mailbox with news, events, funding opportunities, and other RBI-related information.

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