Total Corbion PLA yesterday officially launched its operations to produce and market Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) polymers. PLA is a biobased and biodegradable polymer made from annually renewable resources. As announced by parent companies Total and Corbion last November, the new company is a 50/50 joint venture based in the Netherlands.
Technology
Novozymes launches an enzyme that adds nearly $1 million per year in revenue for a plant
Novozymes launched the Spirizyme® T Portfolio, an advanced suite of glucoamylase enzymes with trehalase and other yield enhancing activities that provide the most total sugar conversion in the industry. Trehalase is an enzyme that converts trehalose, a type of sugar that cannot be fermented to ethanol, to glucose, which is easily fermentable.
Poet-Dsm will build an on-site enzyme manufacturing facility in Iowa
Poet-Dsm Advanced Biofuels, a 50/50 joint venture between Royal Dsm and Poet, Llc. Based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, will build an on-site enzyme manufacturing (OSM) facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa, pending state and local approvals.
Versalis–Genomatica biobutadiene awarded in Hannover
The bio-butadiene (bio-BDE) technology developed by Versalis (Eni) in partnership with Genomatica has been named winner of the Environmental Achievement of the Year within the “Tire Technology International Awards for Excellence and Innovation”, the European independent award program for the tire industry.
Avantium and AkzoNobel to develop a reference plant at the Chemie Park Delfzijl
Avantium, a leading chemical technology company and forerunner in renewable chemistry, partnered with AkzoNobel, Chemport Europe, RWE and Staatsbosbeheer for the development of a reference plant at the Chemie Park Delfzijl. This important step marks the next stage of a collaborative effort to determine the feasibility of a wood to chemicals biorefinery in Delfzijl.
Covestro: first biobased railcar coating tested
Polish railway vehicle manufacturer Newag SA coated two diesel locomotives with a paint based on renewable resources. Lankwitzer Lackfabrik of Berlin supplied the coating, which it developed in close collaboration with Covestro using the biobased coating hardener Desmodur® eco N 7300.
Global Bioenergies finalized the acquisition of Syngip
Global Bioenergies finalized the acquisition of Syngip B.V. at the close of its extraordinary shareholders’ meeting last Thursday. Established in the Netherlands since 2014, Syngip develops a process to convert gaseous carbon sources into light olefins. Its process is based on a proprietary micro-organism capable of metabolising carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) found in a wide range of low-cost and abundant streams, such as the industrial waste emissions of steel mills.
The new Mercedes-Benz goes with Sunliquid® 20, the advanced biofuel produced by Clariant
Novamont buys the remaining 22% of Mater-Biopolymer
Environmental-friendly traveling Sauna inaugurated in Minneapolis
The Traveling Sauna was inaugurated in Minneapolis on January 14, 2017. The sauna will be Finland’s centennial mascot in the United States. During the next twelve months it will travel all across the continent, driving altogether over 10,000 miles. At the inauguration ceremony Ambassador Kirsti Kauppi revealed the name of the sauna: it will be called Sisu.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 