Total Corbion PLA, a 50/50 joint venture between French oil giant Total and Dutch biochemical company Corbion, yesterday announced the start-up of its 75,000 tons per year PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) bioplastics plant in Rayong, Thailand. The plant has successfully produced Luminy® PLA resins, a bioplastic that provides a valuable contribution towards the circular economy being biobased and biodegradable and offering multiple environmentally-friendly waste solutions.
The bioeconomy is innovation, the result of the skills and passion of researchers and managers able to create value and new high-qualified jobs. 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 8 at 2 pm, Western European Time).
The most innovative CEO 2016 was Ken Richards (CEO of Leaf Resources)
The most innovative CEO 2017 was Tony Duncan (CEO of Circa Group)
This is the result in 2018 (in alphabetical order)
Catia Bastioli, Novamont (Italy)
Vincent Chornet, Enerkem (Canada)
Veronique de Bruijn, Photanol (Netherlands)
Marc Delcourt, Global Bioenergies (France)
Jürgen Eck, BRAIN AG (Germany)
Jennifer Holmgren, LanzaTech (New Zealand-USA)
E. James Macias, Fulcrum Bioenergy (USA)
David Sudolsky, Anellotech (USA)
Sean Sutcliff, Green Biologics (UK)
Stéfanie Triau, Bioserie (Hong Kong)
The Global Biorefinery Products Market is accounted for $498.02 Billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $1,110.9 Billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 9.3% during the forecast period.
It’s a bad time for the bioenergies companies in UK. Due to the difficult market conditions, CropEnergies will pause production in its plant in Wilton, North East England, operated by Ensus from the end of November 2018 on.
Cargill and Royal DSM, a global science-based company in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, established a new joint venture, Avansya, to significantly reduce calories in their offerings to consumers. Together, the companies will produce highly sought-after, sweet-tasting molecules, such as steviol glycosides Reb M and Reb D through fermentation, giving food and beverage manufacturers an even more scalable, sustainable and low cost-in-use solution than if these same molecules were extracted from the stevia leaf.
US companies Phillips 66 and Renewable Energy Group, Inc. joined forces for the construction of a large-scale renewable diesel plant on the U.S. West Coast. The plant would utilize REG’s proprietary BioSynfining® technology for the production of renewable diesel fuel. Planned feedstocks include a mix of waste fats, oils and greases, including regionally-sourced vegetable oils, animal fats and used cooking oil.
Neste, the Espoo-based world’s leading provider of sustainable renewable diesel and an expert in delivering drop-in renewable chemical solutions, and Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, signed an agreement for a new partnership to join forces in developing and making new sustainable material solutions accessible to a variety of industries.
“Avantium is a big story in the bioeconomy, but the relationships with big companies as investors are not easy”. To say it at the Sustainable & Circular Bioeconomy Conference in Brussels on October 22 was Jos Peeters, managing partner, founder and director of Capricorn Venture. Indeed, Avantium and BASF are in a dispute about the future of their Synvina joint venture. The companies disagree on the timing for the fulfilment of the criteria to invest in the commercial-scale plant for FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid).
Italian bioplastics company Bio-on signed today an agreement with the Russian TAIF JSC group, which will acquire a license to build the Russian Federation’s first plant producing 100% natural and biodegradable PHAs bioplastic, in the Republic of Tatarstan.
“You know, the name of our company is Italian. Anello (ring in English) wants to mean the circularity, but also the bond as it is represented by the wedding ring”.
It is very pleasant to talk with David Sudolsky, one of the entrepreneurs who is making the bioeconomy happen at global level. He co-founded Anellotech in 2008, secured the initial angel funding for the company, recruited the management team and scientific advisory board, and is leading the expansion of the company.
The company based in New York develops a technology platform for producing petrochemicals and transportation fuels from renewable non-food biomass.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
IL BIOECONOMISTA 