Germany is planning to withdraw from the use of crop-based biofuels

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German environment minister Steffi Lemke said on Tuesday she would soon send proposals to the cabinet for the country to withdraw from the use of crop-based biofuels to achieve reductions in greenhouse gases, International Press Agency Reuters states. “Biofuels stand for land consumption and loss of biological diversity,” Lemke said in a speech on Tuesday posted on the environment ministry’s website. “To replace only around 4% of fossil fuel use in German road transport, a land space in Germany and abroad is needed which represents about 20% of the German agricultural area. That is not future-orientated.”

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Neste completed the acquisition of used cooking oil collection and aggregation business from Crimson Renewable Energy

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Neste’s headquarter in Espoo, Finland

In November 2022, Neste announced that it would acquire the used cooking oil (UCO) collection and aggregation business and related assets on the US West Coast from Crimson Renewable Energy Holdings, LLC. The acquisition has been approved by regulatory authorities, and the transaction has been closed. 

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Valmet to convert two coal-fired boilers to enable biomass combustion for Veolia Group’s subsidiary in Hungary

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Finnish company Valmet will deliver boiler conversions and emission reduction solutions for Veolia Group’s Hungarian subsidiary CHP-Invest Kft at its power plant in Oroszlány, Hungary. The order includes the conversion of two coal-fired boilers to bubbling fluidized bed combustion to enable the boilers to run mainly on biomass fuel. The order is included in Valmet’s orders received of the fourth quarter 2022. The value of the order is approximately 25 million euros. The converted boilers will be handed over to the customer in the first and second quarter of 2024.

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In Finland Metsä Group and VR intensify their cooperation on sustainability

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Metsa Group Aanekoski pulp mill. Source: http://www.metsafibre.com

Finnish companies Metsä Group and VR are intensifying their cooperation on sustainability in logistics and have agreed a new joint target to halve emissions from transport covered by their cooperation by 2030. In addition, Metsä Group aims to transfer some of its current road transports to railways. For Metsä Group, the measures would represent a total emission reduction of around 14,000 tCO2e per year, which is equivalent to more than 25,000 average lorry journeys. 

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Brussels Airlines goes green with Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel

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Brussels Airlines, the flag carrier of Belgium and part of the Lufthansa Group, has started the new year by being the first airline receiving a delivery of Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel at Brussels Airport for the first time using the NATO Central European Pipeline System (CEPS). 

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Happy New Year. The Bioeconomy Revolution doesn’t stop

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Dear Readers,

thank you very much, again. 2022 was another great year for Il Bioeconomista, which continues to be considered as the most authoritative blog at world level. 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.

Today, a little more than 10 years since its foundation, we can say that Il Bioeconomista confirms itself as the world’s leading blog on bieconomy. Thank you so much. Our readers are mainly Europeans, but a growing number of readers are from the United States, Turkey, Canada, Brazil, India, Australia and Malaysia.

For us, it’s a tremendous encouragement to move forward, to offer you a blog that informs and promotes discussion on bioeconomy. The year that has just ended was very important for the global bioeconomy, with significant progress in terms of industry, research and awareness of the institutions, with the launch of the US National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative.

We are sure that 2023 will be another important year for the implementation of the bioeconomy. We will be again on your side to tell the facts and continue growing.

Happy new year!

Mario Bonaccorso

LanzaTech’s Waste Gas-to-SAF Facility receives £25M Grant from UK Department for Transport Advanced Fuels Fund

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Babette Pettersen, VP Europe at LanzaTech at IFIB 2022’s round table on SAF

Plans for the world’s first commercial-scale factory to transform waste gases into sustainable jet fuel have moved a step closer before Christmas. LanzaTech UK Ltd., a subsidiary of LanzaTech NZ, Inc., an innovative Carbon Capture and Transformation (“CCT”) company, announced that its DRAGON facility project has received a £25M (~$31M, €28,37M) grant from the UK Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuels Fund Competition. LanzaTech’s Project DRAGON, which stands for Decarbonizing and Reimagining Aviation for the Goal ONetzero, will convert waste gases into synthetic kerosene for use in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

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An exclusive interview with Giulia Gregori, Novamont. “Specific codes for the biobased industries are fundamental to fully exploit the circular bioeconomy potential”

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“The recognition of our sector through the application of specific NACE codes is an important element as it would allow a better measurement in the statistical field and the possibility of addressing specific legislative measures, such as financing or the creation of specific EER codes”. To say this – in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista – is Giulia Gregori, Strategic Planning and Corporate Communication manager at Novamont, the Italy-headquartered company which is leading the way in the world bioplastics sector.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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Evonik launches plant-based squalene to boost vaccine efficacy

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Evonik has launched a non-animal-derived squalene suitable for vaccines and other pharmaceutical applications. PhytoSquene® is the first known amaranth oil-derived squalene on the market for use in adjuvants in parenteral dosage forms. It meets the demand for a secure commercial supply of non-animal-derived squalene. Non-GMP samples of PhytoSquene® are available immediately with GMP quality to follow in 2023.

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The Biden administration could change the nation’s biofuel blending law next year

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Joe Biden with former US President Barack Obama

According to Reuters, the Biden administration could change the nation’s biofuel blending law next year to offer lucrative credits to electric vehicle manufacturers like Tesla, a major rewrite that the oil industry criticizes as subsidizing the EV industry. The Renewable Fuel Standard, enacted in the mid-2000s, mandates the amount of biofuels like landfill or agricultural methane that oil refiners must blend into the nation’s fuel mix, or buy tradable credits – known as RINs – from those that do.

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