Technology – Page 102 – IL BIOECONOMISTA

M&G Chemicals will construct a second-generation biorefinery in China

21 November 201321 November 2013Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

The M&G Biorefinery in Crescentino, Italy

M&G Chemicals, among the three largest producers of PET resin for packaging applications in the world, announced last Monday its decision to construct a second-generation biorefinery in the region of Fuyang, Anhui Province of China, for the conversion of one million metric tons of biomass into bio-ethanol and bio-glycols.

The project is expected to be realized through a joint-venture with Chinese company Guozhen which will make available one million metric tons of straw biomass and use the lignin resulting as a by-product from the bio-refinery to feed a 45 MW cogeneration plant which will be constructed at the same time as the bio-refinery in the same site. M&G Chemicals will be majority partner of the biorefinery and minority partner of the power plant.

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Exclusive interview with Sebastian Søderberg, VP Novozymes: “The Bioeconomy reconciles growth, jobs and sustainability”

20 November 2013Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

“The biobased economy has an unprecedented ability to reconcile growth, jobs, rural development and sustainability. The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2020, biorefining could generate globally over € 225 billion Euro per year across the whole biomass value chain. Policy makers around the globe are waking up to the potential of the biobased economy progressively”. To say it in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista is Sebastian Søderberg, Vice President, Biomass Conversion, of Novozymes, the Danish biotech company with a strong focus on enzyme production and world leader in bioinnovation. With Søderberg we talk about bioeconomy, with a special focus on European policies to encourage the development of the sector: “A comprehensive policy – says the Danish top manager – should therefore stimulate both the demand (tax incentives, production support and feed in tariff) and supply (feedstock collection and supply-chain incentives) for biobased products as well as unlock the necessary investments for demonstration and first-of-its-kind commercial-scale plants (e.g. through the PPP on Biobased Industries)”.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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Naturex and Galactic together to develop a range of preservation systems

18 November 2013Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

There is a new French-Belgian joint research program in the bioeconomy. Naturex, the global leader in specialty plant-based natural ingredients, headquartered in Avignon, and Galactic, the world expert in lactic acid and lactates based natural ingredients, headquartered in Brussels, launched it last Friday to develop a range of preservation systems that include both anti-microbial and antioxidant protection.

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France places bioeconomy at the heart of its innovation programme supporting Deinove

15 November 201315 November 2013Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

Arnaud Montebourg, French Minister of Industrial Renewal

France invests in the bioeconomy. Ademe, the Environment and Energy Management Agency, and the General Investment Commission have chosen the industrial biotech company Deinove and the Deinochem programme to solidify one of the key sectors of government support for industrial innovation.

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A new Dutch initiative aims at the deployment of sustainable biofuels in the aviation sector

14 November 201315 November 2013Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

There is a new biofuels initiative in the aviation sector. A Dutch initiative, announced last Tuesday, aimed at the deployment of sustainable biofuel that includes KLM, SkyNRG, Schiphol Airport, the Port of Rotterdam, the State Secretary of Infrastructure and the Environment, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Neste Oil.

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Italian Minister for the Environment, Andrea Orlando: Pushing the Green and Bioeconomy to Come Out from the Crisis

9 November 2013Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

It´s bioeconomy time. Ecomondo 2013, the International exhibition dedicated to green economy which takes place in Rimini, Italy, from 6 to 9 November, dedicates big part of its busy program of scientific seminars to the bio-based economy and innovation and sustainability of the chemical industry, offering industry and trade visitors, thanks also to the expo showcase in the halls, the opportunity of combining new knowledge and contacts made with the most innovative Italian and European business, academic and institutional experiences.

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The $3 billion industrial enzyme industry now speaks German: BASF takes Verenium

1 November 20131 November 2013Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

Verenium Headquarter in San Diego, California

BASF grows in biotechnology field and closes the gap on market leaders DuPont and Novozymes in the $3 billion industrial enzyme industry. The German world’s leading chemical company yesterday announced that it has successfully completed the previously announced tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of common stock of Verenium Corporation, San Diego, California, for US$4.00 per share in cash. The tender offer expired at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (USA) on October 31, 2013. As of the expiration of the tender offer, 11,337,044 Verenium shares were validly tendered and not withdrawn in the tender offer, representing approximately 71% of Verenium’s outstanding shares, according to the depositary for the tender offer. Based on all outstanding shares and including all net financial liabilities, the enterprise value would be approximately US$62 million (approximately €48 million).

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Editorial: Italy, No Country for Young Men (and Women)

29 October 201329 October 2013Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

Paraphrasing McCarthy: Italy, No Country for Young Men

Be optimistic. There is no alternative for the Italians if they want to continue to maintain the highest standards of living accrued after World War II. Being optimistic, despite the picture painted by Frank Bruni in his article in the New York Times last Saturday is so bleak as it is real.

Be optimistic to build a new country, open, inclusive, equitable, meritocratic and not gerontocratic. Be optimistic and roll up the sleeves. Perhaps it is true that only in the difficulties Italians know how to give the best of themselves. And that this is a difficult time there is no doubt.

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The Italian Forum on Bioeconomy opens today in Naples

22 October 20134 July 2018Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

Approximately 250 delegates from EU, Tunisia, Russia, Turkey and Canada, 40 scientific presentations, 30 scientific posters and a round table on “The role of clusters in fostering the bioeconomy”. These are the numbers of IFIB, the Italian Forum on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioeconomy, which opens today to the world in Naples at Castel dell’Ovo (Egg Castle). Continue reading →

Novamont’s bio-based butanediol plant will come on stream next year

19 October 2013Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

Novamont's Headquarter in Novara (Italy) — Novamont’s Headquarter in Novara (Italy)

Novamont’s bio-based butanediol (BDO) plant, established as a joint venture (Mater Biotech) with San Diego-based Genomatica, will come on stream next year. To say it was yesterday Alberto Castellanza, sales manager of the Italian company, at K 2013, the Trade Fair for Plastic materials and rubber, in Düsseldorf (Germany).

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