Society

First-ever 3D-printed biocomposite pipes play in Helsinki Music Centre’s organ

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The new organ of the Helsinki Music Centre played in a celebratory concert on January 1, 2024. The striking facade pipes of the Rieger organ are the first of their kind, crafted from Finnish, wood-based UPM Formi 3D biocomposite. The organ features 3D-printed sounding pipes and wind lines totalling 260 meters. With 124 sound registers divided among several different sets of pipes, it is the largest in Finland and Scandinavia, among the largest in Europe, and the largest modern organ placed in a concert hall worldwide.

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Happy New Year

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Dear Readers,

we want to wish all of you a very happy, peaceful and healthy year, where we all will keep working together to make the circular bioeconomy happen.

The Most Innovative Bioeconomy CEO 2023 is Thomas Philipon, CEO TotalEnergies Corbion

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Our readers have voted. The most innovative bioeconomy CEO 2023 is Thomas Philipon, CEO of TotalEnergies Corbion, a global technology leader in Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) and lactide monomers. PLA is a biobased, recyclable, and biodegradable polymer made from annually renewable resources, offering a reduced carbon footprint versus traditional plastics. TotalEnergies Corbion, headquartered in the Netherlands, operates a 75,000 tons per year PLA production facility in Rayong, Thailand. The company is a 50/50 joint venture between TotalEnergies and Corbion.

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The 10 Most Innovative Bioeconomy CEOs 2023. Now choose the number 1

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The circular bioeconomy is innovation, the result of the skills and passion of researchers and managers able to create value and new high-qualified jobs, reconciling economy, society and the environment. At the end of 2014 Il Bioeconomista launched a new initiative: The 10 Most Innovative Bioeconomy CEOs.

We have asked a panel of world bioeconomy experts to tell us the Chief Executive Officers that have stood out as the most innovative during the last year.

Now we ask you to choose the most innovative CEO responding to our survey (open till December 13 at 7 am, Western European Time).

The most innovative CEO 2016 was Ken Richards (CEO of Leaf Resources, Australia)

The most innovative CEO 2017 was Tony Duncan (CEO of Circa Group, Australia)

The most innovative CEO 2018 was Jürgen Eck (CEO of BRAIN AG, Germany)

The most innovative CEO 2019 was Alex Michine (CEO of MetGen, Finland)

The most innovative CEO 2020 was Simão Soares (CEO of SilicoLife, Portugal)

The most innovative CEO 2021 was Jennifer Holmgren (CEO of LanzaTech, USA)

The most innovative CEO 2022 was Tom van Aken (CEO of Avantium, Netherlands)

This is the result of 2023 (in alphabetical order)

Catia Bastioli, Novamont (Italy)

John Bissel, Origin Materials (USA)

Annika Bresky, Stora Enso (Sweden)

Marc Delcourt, Global Bioenergies (France)

Jennifer Holmgren, LanzaTech (USA)

Dave Kettner, Virent (USA)

Thomas Philipon, TotalEnergies-Corbion (France/Netherlands)

Christophe Schilling, Genomatica (USA)

Frederic van Gansberghe, Futerro (France)

Niklas von Weymarn, Metsä Spring (Finland)

Here the survey closed

Clariant shuts down its sunliquid bioethanol production in Romania

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Courtesy of Clariant

Another bad news for the European bio-based economy. Clariant, a sustainability-focused specialty chemical company, today announced its decision to shut down its sunliquid® bioethanol production in Podari, Romania, and to downsize related activities of the business line Biofuels & Derivatives in Germany (Straubing, Planegg and Munich).

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COP28 opens today in Dubai with a resounding call to accelerate collective climate action

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The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 opens today with a resounding call to accelerate collective climate action. The conference takes place in what is already known to be the hottest year ever recorded in human history and as the impacts of the climate crisis wreak unprecedented havoc on human life and livelihoods around the world.

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Emirates operated an Airbus 380 demonstration flight with Neste’s SAF

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Photo: Emirates A380 taking off on 100% SAF. Source: Emirates

Emirates, one of the world’s largest international airlines, has become the first airline to operate an Airbus A380 demonstration flight with one of the aircraft’s four engines powered with Neste’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Emirates’ flight demonstrates the potential of SAF as a more sustainable drop-in replacement for fossil-based jet fuel, matching its technical and chemical requirements. SAF can currently be used in up to 50% blends with conventional fossil jet fuel. 

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An exclusive interview with Nicolò Giacomuzzi-Moore, Acting Executive Director CBE JU

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“The bioeconomy can be a catalyst for sustainable systematic change and transition, tackling key economic, societal and environmental challenges”. To say it – in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista – is Nicolò Giacomuzzi-Moore, Executive Director ad interim of CBE JU, Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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Compostable Coffee Capsules Made with NatureWorks’ Ingeo Biopolymer Score Highest Sustainability Marks in New Study 

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A new study reveals that coffee capsules made with Ingeo™️ PLA biopolymer from NatureWorks outperform aluminum, conventional plastics, and other compostable capsules when it comes to sustainability performance. The independent study conducted by Netherlands-based Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, a part of Wageningen University & Research (WUR), assessed the environmental impact and circularity of single-use coffee capsules made from compostable biobased materials, aluminum, and conventional plastics through multiple end-of-life scenarios including industrial composting, recycling, incineration, and landfill. The study also accounted for the fate of the spent coffee grounds within these capsules, finding that compostable capsules keep both the coffee grounds and capsule materials in the loop via organics recycling, making them the most sustainable option. The thermoformed Ingeo-based capsules used in the study were produced by NatureWorks’ partner and food packaging producer, Flo SpA.

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Air France-KLM confirms its strategic cooperation with SAF producer DG Fuels by investing in their SAF production facility in the US

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The Air France-KLM Group is fully committed to reducing its carbon footprint and aims to be a frontrunner in sustainable aviation. In 2022, the Group was the world’s largest user of SAF, representing 17% of the world’s total production. By comparison, the Group only accounts for 3% of the world’s consumption of conventional kerosene.

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