Business

The Chemical Industry will be more and more green and sustainable. This is the strong message that comes from Ecochem

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Congress Center Basel, Switzerland
Congress Center Basel, Switzerland

A great success. This was Ecochem, the event on sustainable chemistry and bio-based economy which was held in Basel November 19 to 21. The three-day conference saw the presence of the major players (more than 2000 attendees and approximately 200 speakers) of the global bioeconomy: the chemical industry which is investing strongly into biotechnology. But also giants of other sectors, like Nike that has begun research programs for the use of biological resources in its products, strategic consulting firm like McKinsey – which confirmed that the future of the chemical industry will be green and sustainable – young biotech companies like the German Evocatal and the Portuguese SilicoLife, and investors like Sofinnova and Capricorn Venture.

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M&G Chemicals will construct a second-generation biorefinery in China

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The M&G Biorefinery in Crescentino, Italy
The M&G Biorefinery in Crescentino, Italy

M&G Chemicals, among the three largest producers of PET resin for packaging applications in the world, announced last Monday its decision to construct a second-generation biorefinery in the region of Fuyang, Anhui Province of China, for the conversion of one million metric tons of biomass into bio-ethanol and bio-glycols.

The project is expected to be realized through a joint-venture with Chinese company Guozhen which will make available one million metric tons of straw biomass and use the lignin resulting as a by-product from the bio-refinery to feed a 45 MW cogeneration plant which will be constructed at the same time as the bio-refinery in the same site. M&G Chemicals will be majority partner of the biorefinery and minority partner of the power plant.

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Exclusive interview with Sebastian Søderberg, VP Novozymes: “The Bioeconomy reconciles growth, jobs and sustainability”

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Novozymes Headquarter
Novozymes Headquarter

“The biobased economy has an unprecedented ability to reconcile growth, jobs, rural development and sustainability. The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2020, biorefining could generate globally over € 225 billion Euro per year across the whole biomass value chain. Policy makers around the globe are waking up to the potential of the biobased economy progressively”. To say it in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista is Sebastian Søderberg, Vice President, Biomass Conversion, of Novozymes, the Danish biotech company with a strong focus on enzyme production and world leader in bioinnovation. With Søderberg we talk about bioeconomy, with a special focus on European policies to encourage the development of the sector: “A comprehensive policy – says the Danish top manager – should therefore stimulate both the demand (tax incentives, production support and feed in tariff) and supply (feedstock collection and supply-chain incentives) for biobased products as well as unlock the necessary investments for demonstration and first-of-its-kind commercial-scale plants (e.g. through the PPP on Biobased Industries)”.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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Naturex and Galactic together to develop a range of preservation systems

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Thierry Lambert, President of Naturex
Thierry Lambert, President of Naturex

There is a new French-Belgian joint research program in the bioeconomy. Naturex, the global leader in specialty plant-based natural ingredients, headquartered in Avignon, and Galactic, the world expert in lactic acid and lactates based natural ingredients, headquartered in Brussels, launched it last Friday to develop a range of preservation systems that include both anti-microbial and antioxidant protection.

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A new Dutch initiative aims at the deployment of sustainable biofuels in the aviation sector

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KLM Boeing powered by biofuel
KLM Boeing powered by biofuel

There is a new biofuels initiative in the aviation sector. A Dutch initiative, announced last Tuesday, aimed at the deployment of sustainable biofuel that includes KLM, SkyNRG, Schiphol Airport, the Port of Rotterdam, the State Secretary of Infrastructure and the Environment, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Neste Oil.

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Abengoa develops a new reverse osmosis desalination plant in Chile

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Santiago de Chile

Santiago de Chile

Abengoa, the Spanish international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the energy and environment sectors, has been selected by AES Gener, one of the leading energy companies in Chile, to develop a new reverse osmosis desalination plant for an Angamos power plant.

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Cargill Expands its Corn-based Ethanol Business

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One of the U.S Cargill's Plants

One of the U.S Cargill’s Plants

Cargill, U.S. agribusiness giant, expands its corn-based ethanol business by opening a plant in Fort Dodge, Iowa, with the capacity to grind 150,000 bushels of corn daily.

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The $3 billion industrial enzyme industry now speaks German: BASF takes Verenium

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Verenium Headquarter in San Diego, California
Verenium Headquarter in San Diego, California

BASF grows in biotechnology field and closes the gap on market leaders DuPont and Novozymes in the $3 billion industrial enzyme industry. The German world’s leading chemical company yesterday announced that it has successfully completed the previously announced tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of common stock of Verenium Corporation, San Diego, California, for US$4.00 per share in cash. The tender offer expired at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (USA) on October 31, 2013. As of the expiration of the tender offer, 11,337,044 Verenium shares were validly tendered and not withdrawn in the tender offer, representing approximately 71% of Verenium’s outstanding shares, according to the depositary for the tender offer. Based on all outstanding shares and including all net financial liabilities, the enterprise value would be approximately US$62 million (approximately €48 million).

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Obama Administration Boosts the Use of Bio-based Materials in Cars

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Henry Ford II World Center
Henry Ford II World Center

The US Center for Automotive Research (CAR) announced Thursday that it will be the lead agency in a $1.47 million grant under the federal “Make It In America Challenge” to boost the use of bio-based materials in cars. Partners in the effort include the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center, the Macomb-St. Clair Workforce Development Board and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences.

“Our project, ‘Building Capacity and Capability in the Bio-Based Materials Manufacturing Sector,’ will build and expand on this distinctive combination of assets to support job creation and attraction of domestic and foreign direct investment in the agricultural manufacturing sector, as well as greater development of a supply chain for bio-material products to support the U.S. automotive industry,” said Kim Hill, director of the Sustainability and Economic Development Strategies group and project lead at CAR.

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Vilsack, US Agriculture Secretary: $181 million to Develop Advanced Biofuels

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Tom Vilsack, US Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack, US Agriculture Secretary

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the availability of 181 million US dollars to develop commercial-scale biorefineries or retrofit existing facilities with appropriate technology to develop advanced biofuels. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. Vilsack’s announcement is one part of the Department’s efforts to strengthen the rural economy.

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