Author: Il Bioeconomista

In Italy starts the first edition of the first Master in Bioeconomy in the Circular economy

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University of Milano Bicocca
University of Milano Bicocca

Yesterday in Milan, Italy, started the first edition of the first European Master in Bioeconomy in the Circular economy. To organise it are four Italian universities from North to South (University of Turin, University of Milan Bicocca, University of Bologna and University of Naples Federico II), with the support of three of the main Italian bioeconomy players (Novamont, GFBiochemicals and Science Park of Lodi) and the Italian leading banking Group Intesa Sanpaolo, which is the only financial global partner of the Ellen McArthur Foudation.

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A startup produces biomaterials from fungi. An interview with its co-founder Federico Grati

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Federico Grati at IFIB 2016 in Vicenza
Federico Grati at IFIB 2016 in Vicenza
An Italian startup is developing and promoting the Mogu technology, by implementing the root structures of mushrooms, the mycelium, to transform and to bind agricultural by-products into strong functional composites, 100% compostable. Following the principles of “Circular Economy”, the Mycoplast (this is the name of the company) team is researching, identifying and marketing the best industrial and commercial technologies for the production of biomaterials, obtained through the use of mycelium. Today Mycoplast has won the Alimenta2Talent Award, a business idea competition, promoted by the Municipality of Milan and Science Park of Lodi, that wants to face such a challenge through innovation. Indeed, Alimenta2Talent rewards those ideas that can renovate traditional ways to cultivate, cut down on waste and increase sustainability. Il Bioeconomista interviews Federico Grati, co-founder of Mycoplast and business development manager at Clariant, where he is in charge of promotion and sales of cellulosic ethanol technology in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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France adopts its national bioeconomy strategy. An interview with Antoine Peeters, IAR

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grande-1-palais-elysee.jpgThe bioeconomy speaks French. Yesterday the Government led by François Hollande endorsed its national Bioeconomy Strategy. After Spain and Italy last year, France is one of the last major biobased EU Member States to publish an official framework for the production and valorization of renewable resources.
Antoine Peeters, Head of External Relations and Partnerships at IAR – The French Bioeconomy Cluster, talks to Il Bioeconomista.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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US EPA approves the pathway for an advanced biofuel produced by Gevo in Minnesota

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Biorefinery of Gevo in Minnesota
Biorefinery of Gevo in Minnesota

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has approved the pathway for isobutanol produced at Gevo’s Luverne, MNplant to be an advanced biofuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard Program (“RFS”). This is the first time that the EPA has approved a pathway for an advanced biofuel that uses starch from feed corn to produce an alcohol. With a partial substitution of fossil based energy sources that are currently used at Luverne with green energy sources, such as biogas, it should be possible for  Gevo, which a leading renewable technology, chemical products, and next generation biofuels company, to achieve the 50% or greater greenhouse gas emissions (“GHG”) reduction needed to claim the advanced D5 Renewable Identification Number (“RIN”) according to the pathway approval.

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Stora Enso invests in biocomposite granules in Sweden

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Stora Enso paper mill in Hyltebruk (Sweden)
Stora Enso paper mill in Hyltebruk (Sweden)

Scandinavian company Stora Enso is investing 12 million euro to build a new production line that will manufacture biocomposite granules at Hylte Mill in Sweden. Biocomposite granules enable the use of renewable wood to substitute a large portion of the fossil-based materials in products typically produced in plastics. Production is scheduled to begin during the first quarter of 2018. The annual capacity will be approximately 15 000 tonnes per year. The ramp-up of the new production line and a new type of manufacturing is expected to take 2–3 years.

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Avantium acquires the assets of Liquid Light

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opening-pilot-plant-avantium-1
The pilot plant of Avantium in Geleen, The Netherlands

Avantium, the Dutch leading chemical technology company and forerunner in renewable chemistry, has acquired the assets of Liquid Light Inc., a renowned developer of electrochemical processes. Liquid Light has developed proprietary process technology to make major chemicals from low-cost, globally-abundant carbon dioxide (CO2). The acquisition combines the technologies of both Liquid Light and Avantium to develop a world leading electro-catalysis platform and to commercialize new process technologies using CO2 as feedstock to produce sustainable chemicals and materials. The integration of the Liquid Light assets into Avantium is complete and effective immediately. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

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Global Bioenergies plans to buy Dutch Syngip to increase competitiveness

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Rijksmuseum, AmsterdamGlobal Bioenergies expands in the Netherlands. The French biotech company led by Marc Delcourt signed a contribution agreement with the shareholders of Syngip B.V. to transfer all Syngip shares to Global Bioenergies S.A. The transaction’s completion remains subject to the fulfilment of several suspensive conditions including approval by the shareholders of Global Bioenergies.

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LanzaTech receives a $4 million award to build a demonstration plant for low carbon fuels

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Jennifer Holmgren, Ceo of Lanzatech
Jennifer Holmgren, Ceo of Lanzatech

US carbon recycling company LanzaTech has been selected by the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) to receive a $4 million award to design and plan a demonstration-scale facility using industrial off gases to produce 3 million gallons/year of low carbon jet and diesel fuels. The facility will recycle industrial waste gases from steel manufacturing to produce a low cost ethanol intermediate “Lanzanol”. Both Lanzanol and cellulosic ethanol will then be converted to jet fuel via the “Alcohol to Jet” (ATJ) process developed by LanzaTech and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

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2016: a great year for Il Bioeconomista. Thank you and happy 2017!

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happy-new-year-2017-images-1024x576Dear Readers,

thank you very much, again. 2016 was another great year for Il Bioeconomista: 14% more visits to our blog. This shows us how the bioeconomy is increasingly a phenomenon that attracts the attention of global public opinion and gratifies us as journalists, observers of a reality that we have always defined as the industrial revolution of the Third Millennium.

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UK bioeconomy supports over 5 million jobs. An interview with Margaret Smallwood, CEO BioVale

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BioVale Steering Group. Margaret Smallwood is the fourth from the right. Copyright BioVale
BioVale Steering Group. Margaret Smallwood is the fourth from the right. Copyright BioVale

“In 2015 the UK Government published its first report demonstrating how important the bioeconomy is to the UK. They commissioned a second report in 2016, ‘Evidencing the bioeconomy’, which estimated the bioeconomy generated £220bn in Gross Value Added and supported over five million jobs in the UK”. Margaret Smallwood, CEO of BioVale, an innovation cluster supporting development of the bioeconomy in Yorkshire and the Humber, talks to Il Bioeconomista. In this exclusive interview she talks about the bioeconomy in UK after Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as US President.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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