“With the Plastic Strategy the Commission presented an ambitious plan but it focuses only on mechanical recycling of conventional plastics and falls short in considering and evaluating the big benefits for the environment and for the ‘green’ jobs in Europe that bioplastics can provide”. Mariagiovanna Vetere, NatureWorks Public Affairs manager for Europe, talks to Il Bioeconomista.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
UK biotech company Ingenza has joined forces with leading universities and industrial partners to participate in the ConBioChem collaboration, a translational project focused on the development of novel platform technologies for the continuous bio-production of commodity chemicals.
Italy-based Aquafil and Californian biotech company Genomatica join forces to create sustainable caprolactam, a key ingredient to producing 100% sustainable nylon. The collaboration between the two companies aims to develop a commercially-advantageous bioprocess (Genomatica’s GENO CPL process) to make caprolactam using plant-based renewable ingredients, rather than the crude oil-derived materials traditionally used by the nylon industry.
Bio-on, Italian eco-sustainable chemical company, and Gruppo Hera, one of Italy’s main multi-utility providers, have reached an agreement for the supply of clean energy thanks to the realisation and management of a new technological-energy hub that will house a newly designed trigeneration plant. The deal was signed by Bio-on S.p.A. with Hera Servizi Energia, a subsidiary of Gruppo Hera, and will guarantee clean electric energy for the new plant producing innovative biopolymers that Bio-on is currently constructing in Castel San Pietro Terme, outside Bologna (Emilia Romagna Region).
Synvina, the joint venture between Avantium and BASF, plans to extend the pilot phase in order to optimize future commercial-scale production. The company headquartered in Amsterdam has now completed a broad feasibility assessment for commercial-scale production of FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) in its Reference Plant intended to be built in Antwerp. FDCA is the main building block for the new polymer PEF (polyethylenefuranoate). The assessment looked at product performance, market appetite and technical process.
“Our goal is to reduce carbon and to do this we must adopt new approaches by using alternative feedstocks, including existing wastes and residues instead of fossil. Today we have an abundance of carbon in all the wrong places. We can turn it from a liability to an opportunity by using it again and again”. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech, on of the most dynamic and growing bioeconomy companies at world level, talks to Il Bioeconomista, in an interview released after the Bioeconomy Investment Summit, which was held on December 14 in Helsinki.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Italian oil giant Eni signed an agreement with Utilitalia (the federation of public owned energy, water and environmental companies) and CONOE (the Italian consortium for the collection and treatment of oil and used vegetable and animal and fat) to boost the collection of used vegetable oil produced in the homes of Eni’s employees. The collection will be made from Eni sites across the country, including operational headquarters and production plants.
Clariant, a Swiss leader in specialty chemicals, and French industrial biotech company Global Bioenergies last Tuesday announced the development of a new bio-based polymer for cosmetic creams and lotions, which is derived from renewable isobutene.
“We need an ambitious and long-term bioeconomy policy framework to enable the creation of a Bioeconomy Single Market. The framework needs to ensure predictability to investors and companies, enhance risk-taking capacity and define priority pathways to move towards a low carbon economy, where a circular bioeconomy becomes a growth engine”. Marc Palahí, director of the European Forest Institute, talks to Il Bioeconomista. In this long and exclusive interview, released after the Second edition of the European Bioeconomy Summit, he talks about the next steps which are needed to place the bioeconomy at the core of the EU industrial, climate and sustainability agenda.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Dear Readers,
thank you very much, again. 2017 was another very positive year for Il Bioeconomista: 12% more visits to our blog.
Il Bioeconomista confirms itself as one of the world’s leading blog on bieconomy. Our readers are mainly Europeans, but a growing number of readers are from Turkey, the United States, Canada, Brazil, India, Australia, Japan and Malaysia.
The year that has just ended was very important for the global bioeconomy. And we are sure that the best has yet to come. 2018 will be another relevant year for the implementation of the bioeconomy, waiting for the pre-announced new strategy on bioeconomy in the European Union. We will be again on your side to tell the facts and continue growing.
Happy new year!
Mario Bonaccorso
IL BIOECONOMISTA 