Amyris, a leading synthetic biotechnology company headquartered in the United States of America, executed a binding term sheet for the acquisition of Gen Z-focused beauty brand, EcoFabulous Cosmetics. The acquisition furthers Amyris’s growth and market leadership in clean beauty and complements Amyris’s family of consumer brands, consisting of Biossance®, Pipette®, Rose Inc., JVN, Terasana, and Costa Brazil.
UPM Plywood, Arctic Astronautics and Huld are ready to launch the first ever wooden satellite, WISA WOODSATTM, into Earth’s orbit by the end of 2021.
WISA Woodsat will go where no wood has gone before. With a mission to gather data on the behavior and durability of plywood over an extended period in the harsh temperatures, vacuum and radiation of space in order to assess the use of wood materials in space structures.
European oil giant Shell joined as an investor in LanzaJet to advance the Illinois-based company’s global growth, accelerate commercialization of its technology, and scale the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Shell joined founding investors in LanzaJet, including LanzaTech, Suncor Energy Inc., Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and more recently, British Airways, as well as participation from All Nippon Airways. In addition to its initial investment in LanzaJet and similar to the phased investment approach used with all of the LanzaJet investors, Shell will have the opportunity to make further investments in the construction of larger-scale production facilities over the coming years.
Afyren and Südzucker reached an unprecedented long-term agreement on the supply of sugar beet co-products as feedstock for Afyren Neoxy, the zero-waste, low-carbon biorefinery that will begin producing seven 100% biobased organic acids at industrial scale in early 2022. The partnership is in accordance with both companies’ sustainability strategies. Using these co- products to produce bio-based organic acids provides a high level of revalorization and does not affect the food chain.
Novamont, a world leader in the world bioplastics market headquartered in Novara (Italy), and Italian utility Iren signed a three-year collaboration agreement in the field of integrated waste collection systems, the aim of which is to reduce non-recyclable waste at source and fully implement the objectives of the circular bioeconomy.
The two companies have agreed to develop specific projects for the optimised management of compostable products and packaging, to be recycled and recovered together with the organic fraction of solid municipal waste in Iren’s treatment plants.
Braskem is expanding its production capacity of green ethylene, the main feedstock derived from sugarcane ethanol which is used in the production of renewable resins. These materials can therefore claim to capture CO2, a greenhouse gas. This raw material is produced at the company’s plant in Triunfo, Rio Grande do Sul, whose capacity will be increased from the current 200 kton/year to 260 kton/year. The expansion project, budgeted at US$61 million, will be rolled out in 2021 and should be concluded in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Univar Solutions Inc., a global chemical and ingredient distributor and provider of value-added services, and Novozymes, the world leader in biological solutions, signed an agreement, effective April 1, to expand the existing partnership into the U.S. and Canadian homecare, industrial cleaning, and beverages markets. The ongoing and expanding relationship between the two companies demonstrates a shared commitment to providing customers with a portfolio of ingredients designed to help improve product performance and enable solutions that have the potential to bring more sustainable products to the homecare, industrial cleaning and beverages markets through better performing formulations.
DMC Biotechnologies has successfully demonstrated full commercial scale (85m3 fermentation at EW Biotech, Germany) for its first product, the amino acid L-alanine. The scale-up results identically tracked the performance at bench and pilot scales, further validating the predictability and scalability of DMC’s Dynamic Metabolic Control technology, inform the US company. Importantly, commercial performance metrics were demonstrated, meaning that no further strain improvements are required to achieve the target selling price.
Finnish biofuel producer and oil refiner Neste has chosen the Dutch port of Rotterdam as the location for its next renewable products refinery. Neste said the new plant will be around the same size as the 1.5 billion euro ($1.79 billion) refinery expansion it is currently building in Singapore, which the company described as its biggest investment so far.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), around the world finding a job is much tougher for women than it is for men. When women are employed, they tend to work in low-quality jobs in vulnerable conditions and there is little improvement forecast in the near future. The current global labour force participation rate for women is close to 49% (for men it is 75%). The freedom to work – by choice, in conditions of dignity, safety and fairness – is integral to human welfare.
The Bioeconomy is led by women. This year, as every year, for the International Women’s Day, we dedicate a tribute to all women who are making the bioeconomy happen all around the world. With their huge competences and their infinite passion, they are the stars of the world bioeconomy. Our best and warmest wishes to all women.
This is just a partial list.
