Economy

Lux Research: Biofuel industry is poised for a huge slowdown in capacity growth

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Crescentino Plant View: 2G biofuels biorefinery
Crescentino Plant View: 2G biofuels biorefinery

The 53.2 billion gallon a year (BGY) biofuel industry is poised for a huge slowdown in capacity growth, to a 3.2% annual rate from 2013 to 2017 – reaching 60.4 billion gallons – off from 19.6% annually from 2005 to 2013, according to Lux Research. The sharp decline is on account of a significant industry transition to novel fuels and feedstocks, to enable long-term growth in the face of impediments like the food vs. fuel debate and the imminent blend limits for biodiesel and ethanol. Next-generation biofuels – such as renewable diesel and butanol – that can offer higher blends, in contrast, are not quite mature.

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Exclusive interview with Barbara Secchi, Bridgestone Technical Center Europe: “The tire’s future is bio-based”

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Bridgestone trucks. The Japanese company is MotoGP tires supplier
Bridgestone trucks. The Japanese company is MotoGP tires supplier

“The bioeconomy is challenged by the fact that bio-products have to be anyway competitive vs traditional ones, but it can also open new opportunities if we set our minds not (only) to make copies of petroleum products but also to take completely new approaches to the material world”. To say it in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista is Barbara Secchi, Senior expert Bio-materials and EU network at Bridgestone (the world’s largest tire and rubber company) Technical Center Europe based in Rome. With Mrs Secchi we talk about bioeconomy and the bio-based future of the tire’s industry, “possibly using biomass that is not competing with food (2nd generation biomass)”.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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The American Chemistry Council creates a new Biobased Chemistry Network

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The American Chemistry Council
The American Chemistry Council

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) – focused on anticipating and preventing accidents, as well as on educating the public about how to use chemical products safely – created a new Biobased Chemistry Network to help educate policymakers on how to develop workable regulatory programs for the growing biobased chemistry industry. Global sales of this segment range from $13.5 billion to $20 billion, with the US accounting for approximately 20 percent of those sales, or $2.7 billion to $4 billion.

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Succinity produces first commercial quantities of biobased succinic acid for the global market

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Headquarter of Basf in Ludwigshafen
Headquarter of Basf in Ludwigshafen

Succinity GmbH, the joint venture between Corbion Purac, the worldwide market leader in lactic acid, lactic acid derivatives and lactides, and BASF, German chemical giant, for the production and commercialization of biobased succinic acid, has announced the successful start-up of its first commercial production facility.

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Novozymes launches LpHera, an enzyme to make starch conversion more efficient

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Novozymes Headquarter
Novozymes Headquarter

Novozymes – the Danish biotech company which is world leader in industrial enzymes  – announced yesterday the launch of a new enzyme solution (LpHera) that helps make starch conversion more efficient.  The starch industry is one of the longest-standing markets for enzymes, and within the food industry helps to produce a wide range of sweeteners and ingredients used in products ranging from soft drinks to sauces.

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Italian new government: “Demolition Man” Matteo Renzi doesn’t seem to have scrapped much

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Renzi presents his government at the Quirinale Presidential Palace
Renzi presents his government at the Quirinale Presidential Palace

A new government. The fourth in three years. The third of these four non-elected by a democratic vote. Welcome to Italy. Rudyard Kipling said about us: “An Italian is a good person. Two Italians a discussion. Three Italians three political parties.” That’s right, historically we divide and we don’t know the political stability.

The new government led by Matteo Renzi, who is 39 years old (he is the youngest premier in the history of the Italian Republic) and known as “Demolition man” for his plans to scrap the old political class, was created with the old ways of the old politics: a palace coup. The man – who certainly doesn’t lack ambition – grew up as an opponent of the Palace of power today is in the same Palace, without democratic legitimacy.

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Iowa cellulosic ethanol plant of POET-DSM will be operating by June

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Headquarter of Royal DSM in Heerlen (The Netherlands)
Headquarter of Royal DSM in Heerlen (The Netherlands)

An Iowa ethanol plant that will be one of the first producers of biofuels made from crop waste will be operating by June, Steve Hartig, General Manager for Licensing of POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels, said at the National Ethanol Conference in Orlando, Florida.

POET-DSM, a joint operation between leading U.S. ethanol maker POET LLC and Dutch food and chemicals group DSM, will be among the largest to make so-called advanced biofuels on a commercial scale. The $250 million facility in Emmetsburg, in the north-central part of the No. 1 corn-growing state, will produce 7 million to 12 million gallons of ethanol this year using cobs and other corn “stover”.

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Mitsubishi Chemical develops a high-transparency bio-based engineering plastic

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Mitsubishi Asx interior
Mitsubishi Asx interior

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Japanese chemical giant based in Tokyo, announced the development of a new grade of high-performance, high-transparency bio-based engineering plastic called DURABIOTM, using plant-derived isosorbide as its raw material. The new material features excellent optical properties and high resistance to heat and humidity.

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Versalis launches an innovative green chemistry project for the Porto Marghera site

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Daniele Ferrari, Ceo of Versalis-Eni
Daniele Ferrari, Ceo of Versalis-Eni

Versalis (the chemichal subsidiary of Eni), Industrial Relations Eni and the trade unions have reached an important agreement on the project at the Porto Marghera site (close to Venice) to redesign production facilities and regain competitiveness.

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Bio-on and Magna sign agreement to advance R&D on bioplastics for the automotive industry

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Marco Astorri, Ceo and co-founder of Bio-on
Marco Astorri, Ceo and co-founder of Bio-on

Bio-on, an Italian company founded in 2007 to create 100% natural products based on renewable resources or agricultural processing waste materials, and Magna International Inc., a leading global automotive supplier, have signed a cooperation agreement to start exclusive R&D activities on the use of bioplastics for the automotive industry.

Bio-on has developed a new kind of bioplastic created through the use of naturally occurring bacteria which feed off sugar beet by-products. In the process of fermentation, the material is turned into plastic (polyhydroxyalkanoate or PHA). The result is fully biodegradable in water and soil, an environmentally friendly product that does not rely on food as a natural resource and could provide alternatives to conventional plastics for the automotive industry.

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