Shell made its first order to Global Bioenergies, to provide volumes of bio-isobutene derivatives for performance assessment. The oil giant plans to explore the possibility of replacing current hydrocarbon-based isobutene and its derivatives with their equivalents from renewable resources, while maintaining the same level of performance.
Versalis, the chemical division of Italian oil giant Eni, met last week in Rome with representatives of national and local trade unions to present its business plan for the next four years. According to the company, more than 1.1 billion euros have been spent in the last four years and the plan is to continue with investments focused on four strategic areas: specialization, circularity, chemistry from renewables and efficiency.
Finnish giant Neste and Fly Victor, the on-demand private jet company, started a partnership which sets a new sustainability benchmark in business aviation. Victor members can now purchase Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel™ (SAF) for every private jet booking globally. This enables private jet charterers to reduce the carbon footprint of their private air travel in a credible and measurable way.
Carlsberg Group and Dutch biochemical company Avantium agreed to take the next step in the commercialisation of PEF. The Danish Group signed a conditional offtake agreement with Avantium to secure a fixed volume of the 100% plant-based, recyclable and high-performance polymer PEF (polyethylene furanoate) from Avantium’s FDCA Flagship Plant, which Avantium aims to start-up in 2024. Carlsberg will use the PEF resin for various packaging applications, including its Fibre Bottle – the bio-based and fully recyclable beer bottle.
After announcing its €15 million Serie A funding round, the sustainable chemical company GFBiochemicals entered into an agreement with German chemical giant BASF. Specifically, BTC Europe GmbH, BASF’s European distribution organization, and NXTLEVVEL Biochem, a joint venture and manufactoring arm of GFBiochemicals, signed an agreement on the distribution of biobased and biodegradable solvents derived from levulinic acid for the European market.
A consortium, including LanzaTech and Danone, led to the discovery of a new route to monoethylene glycol, (MEG), which is a key building block for polyethylene terephthalate, (PET), resin, fibers and bottles. The technology converts carbon emissions from steel mills or gasified waste biomass directly into MEG. The carbon capture technology uses a proprietary engineered bacterium to convert carbon emissions directly into MEG through fermentation, bypassing the need for an ethanol intermediate, and simplifying the MEG supply chain. The direct production of MEG was proven at laboratory scale and the presence of MEG was confirmed by two external laboratories.
The US bioeconomy takes a step forward. Genomatica, Cargill, HELM and Qore completed a groundbreaking ceremony in Eddyville, Iowa, to celebrate the construction of the first, bio-1,4-butanediol (BDO) facility to be built in the U.S. and the second bio BDO commercial scale plant for Geno. It’s a major milestone for biotech to supply more sustainable materials to meet surging consumer demand, while advancing manufacturing right in America’s heartland.
Circa and Valmet have signed a Heads of Agreement to realise and optimise the Furacell™ production process at scale through the ReSolute project and future large-scale plants. Valmet will be the main process technology and equipment supplier, and actively contribute to accelerating the development of Circa’s large-scale production plants. The cooperation considerably strengthens Circa’s ability to build and deliver its plan to become a large-scale producer of sustainable biochemicals.
The BMW Group has chosen to use BASF Coatings’ CathoGuard® 800 ReSource e-coat at its plants in Leipzig, Germany, and Rosslyn, South Africa, and the iGloss® matt ReSource clearcoat throughout Europe. Using these more sustainable product versions for vehicle coatings enables CO2 avoidance of around 40% per coating layer; this will reduce the amount of CO2 emitted in the plants by more than 15,000 metric tons by 2030.
BRAIN Biotech AG and Formo Bio GmbH launched a strategic collaboration to further advance the production of animal-free milk proteins. BRAIN Biotech is a leading industrial biotechnology company, Formo is a pioneering food-tech startup in the space of alternative milk protein. As experts in their field, the two German biotech companies are powering European innovation.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 