SECOS Group, a leader in sustainable packaging formed through the merger of Cardia Bioplastics and Stellar Films Group in April 2015, announced the successful scale-up production of its “environmentally friendly, high quality and cost competitive Biohybrid™ films” tailored for the global personal care and hygiene product markets. The company manufactures a broad range of Biohybrid™ hygiene films at its Stellar Films Australian cast film manufacturing plant.
They are known throughout the world and admired for their music. Jeremy, Black, Last kiss, Better man: they are just some of the titles of their most famous songs. But Pearl Jam are also supporters of the bioeconomy. The band originally from Seattle and Green Dot, working together with Sea-Lect Plastics, have created a biodegradable luggage tag manufactured locally in the Seattle area. The tags were made as a special gift to members of the band’s popular fan organization, the Ten Club.
BioAmber, a leader in renewable chemistry, announced opening of world’s largest succinic plant in Sarnia, Canada, that was built with Mitsui & Co and uses biotechnology to produce sustainable chemicals from sugar.
United Parcel Service, the world’s largest package delivery company, has signed agreements for up to 46 million gallons of renewable fuels over the next three years. The company, also known as UPS, says the deal represents a 15-fold increase over its prior contracts and make it one of the largest users of renewable diesel in the world.
The agreements with three leading suppliers of renewable fuels, secure access to an advanced renewable diesel fuel in order to meet the company’s objectives for alternative fuel utilization. Neste, Renewable Energy Group and Solazyme will supply renewable diesel to UPS to help facilitate the company’s shift to move more than 12 percent of its purchased ground fuel from conventional diesel and gasoline fuel to alternative fuels by the end of 2017.
Genomatica and Cargill have entered into a collaboration agreement to accelerate the production of renewable chemicals for industrial applications. The collaboration will give chemical producers, distributors and users access to a reliable, cost-effective source of carbohydrate feedstocks, co-location support services and production partnerships, based on GENO™ process technologies.
Biobased chemical company GFBiochemicals has started commercial production at its 10,000 MT/a capacity levulinic acid plant in Caserta, Italy. The announcement was made at the BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology in Montréal (Canada). GFBiochemicals is the first company to produce levulinic acid at commercial scale directly from biomass.
The bioeconomy is a great protagonist in Milan, at Expo 2015, a world-class exhibition celebrating sustainable innovation. The breakthrough bottles use BioFormPX® produced at Virent’s Madison, Wisconsin demonstration plant, are showcased as part of The Coca-Cola Company’s pavilion. BioFormPX paraxylene was used in the world’s first demonstration scale production of a PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based materials.
EuropaBio and Smithers Rapra unveil the agenda for the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and Bioeconomy (EFIB) 2015. Taking place on 27-29 October 2015 at Square, Brussels, EFIB combines high-level discussions on business and policymaking and is the perfect setting for businesses looking to benefit from the next wave of activity in Europe.
ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steel and mining company, LanzaTech, the carbon recycling company, and Primetals Technologies, a leading technology and service provider to the iron and steel industry, announced last Monday they have entered into a letter of intent to construct Europe’s first-ever commercial scale production facility to create bioethanol from waste gases produced during the steelmaking process.
Japanese Sharp launches the first bio-based smartphone. Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation announced that its bio-based engineering plastic DURABIO™ has been chosen by Sharp Corporation for the front panel of its new smartphone, the AQUOS CRYSTAL 2, slated to go on sale in the middle of July 2015 through SoftBank Corporation.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 