Toyobo, one of Japan’s top makers of fibers and textiles, and Avantium, a Dutch scale-up renewable chemicals company that develops and commercializes a next generation biobased chemicals and bioplastic, yesterday announced their partnership on PEF polymerization and PEF films. The two companies have jointly developed thin films made from PEF, a 100% biobased plastic based on Avantium’s proprietary YXY technology for the production of FDCA.
Amyris, the U.S. industrial bioscience company, has won a three-year multi-million dollar contract from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to further the manufacturing of cellulose-derived farnesene for biofuels. The company led by John Melo, in cooperation with Renmatix and Total New Energies USA, will work to develop a manufacturing-ready process utilizing wood as the cellulosic feedstock to produce farnesene, a hydrocarbon building block used to manufacture a variety of products ranging from cosmetics to detergents, as well as base oils, lubricants, diesel and jet fuel.
Enerkem Inc., a Canadian waste-to-biofuels and chemicals producer, yesterday announced it has obtained certification from the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) system for the biomethanol production of its Enerkem Alberta Biofuels full-scale facility in Edmonton, Canada. This biorefinery therefore becomes the first ISCC certified plant in the world to convert municipal solid waste into biomethanol.
California goes green. Neste Renewable Diesel, the biodiesel developed by the Finnish company Neste, is now being used by the County of Sacramento. In moving to this renewable diesel, the County Sacramento joins California’s cleanest and greenest fleets that include the City of San Francisco, City of Oakland, City of Walnut Creek, City of Carlsbad, Google, and UPS.
Everything is ready in Altavilla Vicentina (Vicenza, Italy) to host the Italian Forum on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioeconomy. Taking place on 22-23 September at CUOA Business Center, IFIB 2016 will bring together the European bioeconomy stakeholders, from universities and research centers to big companies.
Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) has launched the creation of the $27 million Centre for Commercialization of Sustainable Chemistry Innovation (COMM SCI) through a $12 Million non-repayable contribution from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario’s (FedDev Ontario) Investing in Regional Diversification (IRD) initiative, a $3 Million grant from the Province of Ontario and a minimum $12 Million in matching contributions from BIC and their partners.
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The cutting-edge bio-plastic Minerv-PHA developed by Bio-on is now available in the prestigious database “Materials Library” of Material ConneXion, the world’s largest resource for innovative and sustainable materials and processes. This resource, both as a physical samples library and an online searchable database, with thousands of references, aims to collect only the most interesting materials from the point of view of innovation, technical characteristics and possible application.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last Monday announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking applications for funding to help support the development of advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals and biobased products.
“The bioeconomy is a catalyst for economic development in rural America, creating new jobs and providing new markets for farmers and ranchers,” Vilsack said. “Investing in the businesses and technologies that support the production of biofuels and biobased products is not only good for farm incomes. The whole economy benefits from a more balanced, diversified and consumer-friendly energy portfolio, less dependence on foreign oil and reduced carbon emissions.”
Cellulac yesterday formally requested Metabolix shareholders to consider merger proposal. Cellulac plc is an industrial biochemicals investment technology company, that have been interested in Metabolix Inc., ($MBLX) for some time and after their announcement, in May 2016, of a strategic review, Cellulac made a formal proposal via the CEO to merge both companies.
