Mossi Ghisolfi is for sale. According to different rumors in Italy, Versalis, the chemical division of the oil giant Eni, and various European (such as the French oil colossus Total) and Asian industrial groups would be interested in acquiring the Italian chemical company which is one of the world’s largest PET manufacturer with a capacity of nearly 1.6 million tonnes per year and plants in Brazil, Mexico and the United States.
“Imagine wearing yoga pants made from recycled carbon!” said LanzaTech Ceo, Jennifer Holmgren. “We want people to have a choice of where their carbon comes from. Fresh fossil or recycled, ‘carbon smart’, products. Much like the idea of buying organic, fair trade or recycled products, we see a future where you can walk into a store and make a conscious decision to buy everything from a chair to running shoes made from recycled carbon. This future is now possible through advancements in synthetic biology which enable the production of targeted molecules.”
Genomatica published the results of a major survey of sustainability issues in the mainstream chemical industry. The survey was conducted together with ICIS, the world’s largest petrochemical market information provider. The survey, fourth in a series they have conducted since 2009, revealed substantial advances for sustainability and renewable chemicals in general, for chemical producers, users (companies making products from basic and intermediate chemicals) and distributors.
Titan Hemp, a leading provider of hemp commodities and extracts based in Seattle (USA), has formed a joint venture with Green Growers Technology Alliance (GGTA) to create a new company, Titan BioPlastics, a manufacturing and development entity focused on creating plant-based composites and products for a wide variety of manufacturing applications, including packaging, nanotechnology, bio-polymers, construction, and bioplastics.
There is a new Brazilian-Danish partnership in the world bioeconomy. Braskem, the Americas’ leading producer of thermoplastic resins, and Danish-based Haldor Topsoe, a world leader in catalysts and surface science, have signed a technological cooperation agreement to develop a pioneering route to produce monoethylene glycol (MEG) from sugar. The agreement calls for the construction of a demonstration plant in Denmark, with operation slated to begin in 2019.
ExxonMobil and Renewable Energy Group (REG) have demonstrated the ability to convert sugars from a variety of non-edible biomass sources into biodiesel by utilizing REG’s patented fermentation technology
Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, will invest in a new full-scale commercial plant for the production of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues using its sunliquid® technology. The new plant, with an annual production capacity of 50.000 tons, will be built in the southwestern part of Romania. The facility will be a flagship site, confirming competitiveness and sustainability of the sunliquid® technology at commercial scale thus supporting Clariant’s sunliquid® licensing business strategy.
“The Ipo (Initial public offering, editor’s note) of Versalis is not yet in Eni’s plans”, Massimo Mondazzi, CFO of the Italian oil giant, said last Friday during a conference call with analysts answering the question about the chemical quotation hypothesis. “We want to maintain and strengthen Versalis, there are no Ipo projects. The option is not in the plans,” he said.
Finnish pulp and paper giant UPM moves forward with the development of biochemicals business by evaluating the potential of building a biorefinery in the Chemical Park Frankfurt-Höchst in Germany. The new-to-the-world biorefinery would combine novel technologies and utilize sustainable wood raw material in an innovative way. This opportunity is the outcome of more than five years of extensive technology development and piloting.
Australia-based Leaf Resources has secured a license for an innovative biodegradable coating product for the packaging market. The product is based on lignin and also utilizes glycerol, two of the products that Leaf’s Glycell process will produce. According to the company, “Leaf’s Glycell process break down plant biomass at lower temperature and pressure and generate a higher yield of cellulose than conventional approaches”.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 