Technology
The European Parliament is debating the future of biofuels
New proposals which aim to limit the percentage of biofuels that can be used in transport fuels continue to divide opinion among European policymakers and stakeholders.
The fuel quality directive and renewable energy directive proposal, adopted by parliament’s environment committee, include new rules that take into consideration the impacts of producing biofuel crops.
Exclusive interview with Michael Carus: “The existing political framework is a hurdle for the bio-based economy in Europe”
“A comprehensive analysis of hurdles carried out by nova-Institut shows that the RED (which will in future be associated with the FQD – Fuel Quality Directive 9870 – in the transport sector) is one of the main causes of the longstanding and systematic discrimination between material and energy uses. The RED hinders the development of material use and therefore that of the whole bio-based economy. Unfavorable framework conditions combined with high biomass prices and uncertain biomass supplies deter investors from putting money into bio-based chemistry and plastics – even though these would produce higher value and greater resource efficiency”. To say it is Michael Carus, physicist and managing director of the nova-Institut, the German private and independent Scientific Institute specialized in the bioeconomy, one of the most prestigious at the European level. In this interview with Il Bioeconomista, Carus uses the phrase “Misallocation of biomass” to define the effects of the RED (Renewable Energy Directive), since “this is blocking higher value material uses like chemicals and plastics from coming to fruition”. And explains his point of view on the first generation vs. second generation biofuels issue.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Brussels center of gravity of the world bioeconomy. EFIB 2013 returns to Europe’s capital
EFIB returns to Brussels. From 30th September to 2nd October the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and the Biobased Economy (EFIB) returns to Europe’s capital, where it was first launched 5 years ago. Since then, the event has grown tenfold in size but remains true to its goal of providing the premier meeting place for business and policy throughout the biobased value chain.
Naples calls for action the bioeconomy in the Euro-Mediterranean Area
Naples, Southern Italy. In that part of the country that governments, since the Unification of Italy, have consciously and culpably left behind. Naples, a city that is the mirror of the Italic contradictions and of a South which is struggling to emerge: Naples the Rich, Naples the Poor, Naples the Noble, Naples the Plebeian, Naples and its many colors, Naples in black like the pitch which is brought by the boats of its sea.
A European Union-backed project to produce biofuels from algae moves a step forward in Spain
A European Union-backed project to produce biofuels from algae moved a step forward last Thursday by producing its first crop of algae biomass at its site in Southern Spain. The “All-gas” project will cultivate fast-growing micro-algae by using the nutrients in wastewater and then by further processes generate biomethane which can be captured and used in transport fuel.
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The Italian revolution in the world of plastics: plastic coming from food waste
It’s a revolution in the world of plastics: plastic coming from food waste. To achieve it is an Italian company in the province of Bologna: Bio-On. The owners of the company, set-up in 2007, are Marco Astorri and Guy Cicognani, former entrepreneurs in the field of electronic components for ski passes. Where is the link? Seeing those little cards abandoned in the valley, never decomposing, Astorri wondered if they could melt, like snow in the sun.
Foresight and UK Green Investment Bank complete £20 million Northern Ireland investment
Foresight Group – a leading, independent alternative asset manager with current assets of over £650 million – and the UK Green Investment Bank – the bank created in 2012 to accelerate the UK’s transition to a green economy and to create an enduring Institution, operating independently of Government – have invested £20 million into the construction of the Evermore Renewable Energy (15.8MWe) wood fuelled combined heat and power (CHP) station to be built in Derry/Londonderry, in Northern Ireland. The Foresight managed fund, UK Waste Resources & Energy Fund (Ukwrei), in which the Green Investment Bank is the cornerstone investor, has made the investment, which is the first GIB funded project in Northern Ireland.
Evonik’s new step forward in the production of bioplastics
Another step in the bioeconomy for Evonik, the German company based in Essen, which is one of the world’s leading specialty chemicals companies, with sales of 13.6 billion euros and an operating result (adjusted EBITDA) of 2.6 billion in 2012. In early 2013, Evonik Industries began operating a pilot plant for ω-amino lauric acid (ALS) in Slovenska Lupca, Slovakia. The effort represents Evonik’s next step forward in the production of sustainable high-performance plastics.
UK’s government approves a £250 million biomass power station on the Northumberland coast
North Blyth Energy Ltd has been given permission to build the 100mw plant at Battleship Wharf, Blyth Harbour. Parent company RES, leading British renewable energy company, said the project would provide “significant investment” and jobs in the area. Once operational the 100mw power station will be able to generate low carbon electricity to power the equivalent of over 170,000 UK households every year using sustainably sourced wood-based fuel.
