Economy

NC Partnering launches a new bio-ecosystem called the BioFutureFactory

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Jukka Kantola, Ceo NC Partnering

In Finland, NC Partnering has launched a new bio-ecosystem called the BioFutureFactory, “a highly fertile growing ground for a multitude of emerging bio-economy projects and applications, and with the added beauty of being a concept that is a perfect example of circular economy”, explains Jukka Kantola, CEO of the Finnish company in a talk with Il Bioeconomista about this new project, which aims at bringing costs of the feedstock down to enable bio-operators to build their operations on sustainable, renewable and economical premises.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

 

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BASF and Avantium establish a new joint venture called Synvina

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Headquarter of Basf in Ludwigshafen
Headquarter of Basf in Ludwigshafen

BASF and the Dutch leading chemical technology company Avantium yesterday announced that they have established a joint venture (JV) called Synvina for the production and marketing of furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) produced from renewable resources (fructose from plants as feedstock rather than conventional oil derivatives), as well as marketing of polyethylenefuranoate (PEF), based on this new chemical building block.

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Pasquale Granata and Mathieu Flamini launch The BioJournal

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Mathieu Flamini and Pasquale Granata launch The BioJournal
Mathieu Flamini and Pasquale Granata launch The BioJournal

Published “to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”

We can borrow this mission statement written on the contents page of the first issue of The Economist, published by James Wilson in September 1843, to define exactly the reason that today, 173 years later, leads to the launch of The BioJournal.

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Ginkgo Bioworks and Genomatica join forces

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Christophe Schilling
Christophe Schilling

Ginkgo Bioworks and Genomatica announced an alliance to more rapidly deliver biology-based solutions for the world’s highest-volume intermediate and specialty chemicals. Mainstream chemical producers can now in-license technology to manufacture their widely-used chemicals with cost-effective and sustainable whole-process solutions that include engineered microorganisms, complete process designs and technology transfer support. The alliance is structured as a deep collaboration, with two-way sharing of technology and intellectual property, along with joint technology development, to provide a single unified offering to the market.

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Supporting Catia Bastioli. The bioeconomy is democracy

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bastioli-a-bottrighe-2She has created the Italian bioeconomy. Thanks to her passion, her tenacity, her ability, Italy today can rightly claim to be a leading country in this field. All this in the total lack of an Italian strategy on bioeconomy.

The inauguration last Friday of Mater Biotech’s plant in Bottrighe di Adria, the first in the world capable of producing butanediol from renewable sources, is her umpteenth great victory. The demonstration that the bioeconomy is a reality, that creates wealth and jobs in an environmentally friendly way. That the goals can be achieved with passion and determination, putting into practice a new idea of sustainable enterprise.

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Novamont opens world’s first commercial-scale bio-BDO plant in North-eastern Italy  

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Catia Bastioli, Ceo of Novamont

Mater Biotech, a 100% company owned by Novamont, today proved Genomatica’s revolutionary technology that converts renewable feedstocks into 1,4 butendiol (BDO) at the Grand Opening of its first commercial bio-BDO plant in Bottrighe di Adria (Rovigo, Italy).

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Clariant and Global Bioenergies: first isobutene production from a wheat straw hydrolysate

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Hariolf Kottmann, Ceo of Clariant
Hariolf Kottmann, Ceo of Clariant

Global Bioenergies and Clariant announced yesterday the first isobutene production from a wheat straw hydrolysate, in the industrial pilot of Pomacle Bazancourt, France. This is the result of a collaboration initiated more than 18 months ago, and has been made possible by combining Clariant’s proprietary process, allowing for the conversion of agricultural residues into sugar-rich hydrolysates, with Global Bioenergies’ proprietary process for the production of isobutene from various industrial-grade sugars.

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Global Bioenergies, Preem, Sekab and Sveaskog join forces to develop forest-based fuel

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Marc Delcourt, co-founder and CEO of Global Bioenergies
Marc Delcourt, co-founder and CEO of Global Bioenergies

Global Bioenergies, Preem, Sekab and Sveaskog yesterday announced having joined forces to develop a high-performance fuel entirely based on forest resources. The consortium has signed a collaboration agreement to carry out a conceptual scope study for a first plant in Sweden. This work will be carried out as part of the “Bio-Based Gasoline Project” with support from the Swedish Energy Agency.

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Virent, Tesoro, Toray, Johnson Matthey and The Coca-Cola Company join forces

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The Coca-Cola Company pavilion at Expo Milano 2015
The Coca-Cola Company pavilion at Expo Milano 2015

Virent established a strategic Consortium with Tesoro, Toray, Johnson Matthey and The Coca-Cola Company focused on completing the development and scale up of Virent’s BioForming® technology to produce low carbon bio-based fuels and bio-paraxylene (a key raw material for the production of 100% bio-polyester). The Consortium members will work together to finalize technical developments and commercial arrangements, with the objective of delivering a commercial facility to produce cost effective, bio-based fuels and bio-paraxylene.

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IFIB 2016: Sustainability is the single largest business opportunity of this generation

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Henri Colens, Braskem Europe
Henri Colens, Braskem Europe

The bioeconomy is alive and is set to grow. This is the strong message coming from Vicenza, Italy, where last Thursday and Friday was held the sixth edition of IFIB, the Italian Forum on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioeconomy.

About 300 participants. Among them some of the big global companies active in the bioeconomy: Braskem, Dow, Novamont, NatureWorks, Mossi Ghisolfi, Clariant, GFBiochemicals and Carlsberg. Innovative start-ups, universities and research centers, as well as clusters such as Clib2021 (Germany), IAR Pole (France) and Bio-based Delta (Netherlands). And again: OECD, European Investment Bank, German Bioeconomy Council.

“Sustainability – Rafael Cayuela, Chief Economist at Dow Chemical, stated – is a huge technological challenge but also the single largest business opportunity of this generation”.

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