Italy to invest $450 million in bioethanol project in Iran

Crescentino bioethanol plant. The same plant in Iran?
A private sector company from Italy signed agreement to make $450 million investment in Amirabad port of Behshahr, Northern Iran, Director of Ports and Maritime Administration of Amirabad Special Economic Zone said on Tuesday to IRNA, the Iranian press agency.
Continue reading

Brexit? No, thanks. EFIB 2016 goes to Scotland

Scottish Exhibition and Convention Center, Glasgow
Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow

Everything is ready in Glasgow, Scotland, to host the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and Bioeconomy. Taking place on 18-20 October at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, EFIB 2016 – organised by EuropaBio and Smithers Rapra – will take advantage of the opportunity to increase engagement between policy makers and a broad range of stakeholders connected with the existing biobased value chain, and reach a new network of end users from a range of industries.

Continue reading

Flow Festival in Helsinki will be a carbon-neutral event

Flow Festival in Finland last year
Flow Festival in Finland last year

Flow Festival, which will take place between 12 and 14 August in Suvilahti, Helsinki, will be a carbon-neutral event, seeking to minimize emissions through comprehensive environmental work. Neste, the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel, will provide Neste Renewable Diesel made 100% from wastes and residues to the generation of electricity requirements of Flow. Most of the electricity required for the festival will come from generators, as the electric grid in the area can only supply a small fraction of the power required for the event.

Continue reading

Arno van de Ven, Stora Enso Biomaterials: Growth in the bioeconomy needs to be sustainable

Arno van de Ven
Arno van de Ven

“Creating a common framework and standardised system to evaluate the bio-based products, along with mandatory targets for biosourced products in public procurement, would certainly provide a boost the European bioeconomy. Improving access to finance for research and innovation would also foster growth.” Arno van den Ven, Senior Vice President, Innovation in Stora Enso’s Biomaterials division, talks to Il Bioeconomista. In this long exclusive interview he talks about Stora Enso Biomaterials, the wood-based economy and how to foster growth in the European bioeconomy.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

Continue reading

Christian Kemp Griffin, Ceo of CelluComp: “Investments should be made in the bioeconomy because it is the future”

Christian Kemp-Griffin, Ceo of CelluComp
Christian Kemp-Griffin, Ceo of CelluComp

“Investments should be made in the bioeconomy because it is the future. Although it is still in the early years of development, there is little doubt that this area will become important.” To say it, in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista, is Christian Kemp Griffin, executive director and Ceo of CelluComp, a dynamic material science company based in Scotland that develops high performance products based on sustainable resources. With Kemp-Griffin we talk about CelluComp and the development of the bioeconomy.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

Continue reading

Leaders of Sustainable Biofuels: It’s time to act quickly to decarbonise the EU transport sector

The Mossi Ghisolfi Biorefinery in Crescentino, Italy
The Mossi Ghisolfi Biorefinery in Crescentino, Italy

“It is time to act quickly and in a targeted manner in order to ensure the much needed decarbonisation of the European transport sector”. To say it is Piero Cavigliasso, director public affairs Biochemtex (Mossi Ghisolfi Group) and president of the Leaders of Sustainable Biofuels, an European group which brings together big companies such as Clariant, UPM, British Airways and Dong Energy

“Our companies – Cavigliasso writes in an note – re-confirm the willingness to further deploy and supply the most innovative technologies to produce advanced biofuels from currently unused, underutilized or otherwise wasted raw materials in order to contribute to the EU objectives outlined in the strategy (European Strategy for Low Emission Mobility, published by the European Commission last 20 July, editor’s note).”

Continue reading

The bioplastic developed by Bio-on is now available in the database “Materials Library”

The Library in New York
The Library in New York

The cutting-edge bio-plastic Minerv-PHA developed by Bio-on is now available in the prestigious database “Materials Library” of Material ConneXion, the world’s largest resource for innovative and sustainable materials and processes. This resource, both as a physical samples library and an online searchable database, with thousands of references, aims to collect only the most interesting materials from the point of view of innovation, technical characteristics and possible application.

Continue reading

Basf and Linde complete pilot project at National Carbon Capture Center in Alabama

Linde AG Head Office, Munich, Germany Exterior of Carl von Linde Haus, Klosterhofstrasse 1
Linde AG Head Office, Munich, Germany
Exterior of Carl von Linde Haus, Klosterhofstrasse 1

German chemical colossus Basf and The Linde Group, one of the leading gases and engineering companies in the world, successfully completed a joint pilot project to improve capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from flue gas at a coal fired power plant at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC). The NCCC is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research facility managed and operated by Southern Company, in Wilsonville, Alabama. Since January 2015, the project operated a pilot plant under a cooperative agreement with DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). Based on the successful completion, Basf and Linde will begin larger-scale testing and explore commercial opportunities.

Continue reading

Tim Dummer, VP Rennovia: The industry will migrate to widespread adoption of bioproducts

Tim Dummer, VP Commercialization Rennovia
Tim Dummer, VP Commercialization Rennovia

“With equivalent performance and equivalent costs we anticipate that the industry will migrate to widespread adoption of these bio-based products over time (similar to previous industry shifts to more competitive petro-derived processes)”. To say it, in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista, is Tim Dummer, VP Commercialization at Rennovia, a specialty chemical company focused on the creation of novel processes for the cost advantaged production of chemicals from renewable feedstocks. Rennovia led by Robert Wedinger and based in Santa Clara, California, is developing processes for the production of biobased glucaric acid, adipic acid, 1,6-hexanediol, hexamethylenediamine (HMD), and other important building blocks for a wide range of functional materials. With Dummer we talk about Rennovia and the future of the chemical industry.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

Continue reading

Global Bioenergies, IBN-One and Lantmännen Aspen: a partnership on renewable isooctane

Marc Delcourt, co-founder and CEO of Global Bioenergies
Marc Delcourt, co-founder and CEO of Global Bioenergies

Global Bioenergies, IBN-One and Lantmännen Aspen, world market leader in alkylate gasoline for two and four stroke small engines, yesterday announced a partnership on renewable isooctane for specialty fuel applications.

Continue reading