Regional stakeholders from Central and Eastern Europe must intensify cooperation. This is the strong message coming from the European Bioeconomy Congress, organised 6-7 October 2016 in Łódź, Poland. Alongside the publication of the Łódź Declaration of Bioregions, the Bio-Based Industry Consortium (BIC), the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) and eight Polish regions signed a Letter of Intent to develop new bioeconomy partnerships.
In Finland, NC Partnering has launched a new bio-ecosystem called the BioFutureFactory, “a highly fertile growing ground for a multitude of emerging bio-economy projects and applications, and with the added beauty of being a concept that is a perfect example of circular economy”, explains Jukka Kantola, CEO of the Finnish company in a talk with Il Bioeconomista about this new project, which aims at bringing costs of the feedstock down to enable bio-operators to build their operations on sustainable, renewable and economical premises.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
BASF and the Dutch leading chemical technology company Avantium yesterday announced that they have established a joint venture (JV) called Synvina for the production and marketing of furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) produced from renewable resources (fructose from plants as feedstock rather than conventional oil derivatives), as well as marketing of polyethylenefuranoate (PEF), based on this new chemical building block.
Published “to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”
We can borrow this mission statement written on the contents page of the first issue of The Economist, published by James Wilson in September 1843, to define exactly the reason that today, 173 years later, leads to the launch of The BioJournal.
She has created the Italian bioeconomy. Thanks to her passion, her tenacity, her ability, Italy today can rightly claim to be a leading country in this field. All this in the total lack of an Italian strategy on bioeconomy.
The inauguration last Friday of Mater Biotech’s plant in Bottrighe di Adria, the first in the world capable of producing butanediol from renewable sources, is her umpteenth great victory. The demonstration that the bioeconomy is a reality, that creates wealth and jobs in an environmentally friendly way. That the goals can be achieved with passion and determination, putting into practice a new idea of sustainable enterprise.
Mater Biotech, a 100% company owned by Novamont, today proved Genomatica’s revolutionary technology that converts renewable feedstocks into 1,4 butendiol (BDO) at the Grand Opening of its first commercial bio-BDO plant in Bottrighe di Adria (Rovigo, Italy).
Global Bioenergies and Clariant announced yesterday the first isobutene production from a wheat straw hydrolysate, in the industrial pilot of Pomacle Bazancourt, France. This is the result of a collaboration initiated more than 18 months ago, and has been made possible by combining Clariant’s proprietary process, allowing for the conversion of agricultural residues into sugar-rich hydrolysates, with Global Bioenergies’ proprietary process for the production of isobutene from various industrial-grade sugars.
Global Bioenergies, Preem, Sekab and Sveaskog yesterday announced having joined forces to develop a high-performance fuel entirely based on forest resources. The consortium has signed a collaboration agreement to carry out a conceptual scope study for a first plant in Sweden. This work will be carried out as part of the “Bio-Based Gasoline Project” with support from the Swedish Energy Agency.
The bioeconomy is alive and is set to grow. This is the strong message coming from Vicenza, Italy, where last Thursday and Friday was held the sixth edition of IFIB, the Italian Forum on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioeconomy.
About 300 participants. Among them some of the big global companies active in the bioeconomy: Braskem, Dow, Novamont, NatureWorks, Mossi Ghisolfi, Clariant, GFBiochemicals and Carlsberg. Innovative start-ups, universities and research centers, as well as clusters such as Clib2021 (Germany), IAR Pole (France) and Bio-based Delta (Netherlands). And again: OECD, European Investment Bank, German Bioeconomy Council.
“Sustainability – Rafael Cayuela, Chief Economist at Dow Chemical, stated – is a huge technological challenge but also the single largest business opportunity of this generation”.
Renmatix, the U.S. leader in affordable cellulosic sugars headquartered in King of Prussia (Pennsylvania), announced a $14 million investment, led by Bill Gates. Industry demand for competitive alternatives to petro-derived molecules is gaining traction, despite recent market pressures. In the interest of expanding that supply, the Plantrose® process provides an enabling technology for profitable biorefineries. This investment in commercializing Plantrose will help drive towards the first wave of Renmatix licensees building Plantrose-enabled biorefineries in diverse global markets like Canada, India, Malaysia, the U.S. and elsewhere. In parallel, that activity will facilitate further market development in downstream bioproduct applications.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 