UPM, the Finnish forest industry company, and the Shanghai-based Tongji University College of Design and Innovation started cooperation in 2015 with a target to create a modern concept for the traditional Chinese tea house by using UPM’s innovative wood-based biomaterials. The project has now reached its goal with the introduction of the Biofore Tea House in the ‘Moi Helsinki’ event in Beijing, China on 13-15 May 2016.
Renewable materials company Stora Enso and specialty chemicals company Rennovia have announced a joint development and license agreement to cooperate on bio-based chemicals development.
“We believe that we are at the beginning of an evolution in the chemical industry where man has the ability to replace some chemicals that have been produced via the petro route with the same chemicals now using sugar as their source of carbon instead of fossil fuels”. Mike Hartmann, executive vice president of BioAmber, talks to Il Bioeconomista
BioAmber is a sustainable chemicals company, whose proprietary technology platform combines industrial biotechnology and chemical catalysis to convert renewable feedstock into building block chemicals for use in a wide variety of everyday products including plastics, resins, food additives and personal care products. The company, which is one of the main world bioeconomy’s players, has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since May 2013, under the symbol BIOA. And is also listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris exchange, under the same symbol. BioAmber is a Delaware corporation with a head office in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a research facility in Plymouth (Minneapolis), Minnesota, and a commercial plant operating in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. Its investors include Sofinnova Partners (France), Naxos Capital Partners (Luxemburg), Mitsui & Co. (Japan), Lanxess (Germany) and the Cliffton Group (Canada).
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
The bioeconomy in the Netherlands takes another step forward, bringing together industry and agriculture. AkzoNobel, Dutch leading global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals, and agro-industrial cooperative Royal Cosun have formed a new partnership to develop novel products from cellulose side streams resulting from sugar beet processing.
Edilon)(sedra, Dutch international supplier of rail track systems, insulating rail systems and noise and vibration reduction systems, in cooperation with Wageningen UR and British speciality chemicals company Croda, is working on the development of next generation polymers for elastic rail fastening systems. The goal of the project is to develop environmentally-friendly bio-based polymers which cure into an elastic rubber-like compound within a limited time.
Bioeconomy, agro-food, start-ups and Expo Milan 2015. These are the issues that Il Bioeconomista faces in this interview with Gianluca Carenzo, director general of the Science Park of Lodi and president of Apsti, the Association of Italian Science Parks.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Valmet – an Australian leading global developer and supplier of technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries – and Biochemtex, which is part of Italian Mossi Ghisolfi Group, will start to cooperate in the field of conversion of lignin into biochemicals. To announce this are both companies in a note. The development project will combine and adapt LignoBoost and Moghi technologies. LignoBoost is Valmet’s proprietary technology for the extraction of purified lignin from black liquor produced by pulp mills.
Avantherm, a Swedish company specializing in Heat Transfer Media products, has started using Neste Renewable Isoalkane to produce the next generation, high-performance and more environmentally friendly products that will facilitate the transition to a fossil free society. Avantherm becomes one of the first companies in the world to market Heat Transfer Media produced from renewable raw materials.
A new version of Tetra Pak’s Tetra Top® package, more than 80% of which comes from plant-based materials, will make its global debut in the United States with JUST™ water. To announce it was last Friday the Swedish multinational company. The new generation carton bottle now comes with a cap and top made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) derived from sugarcane. Combined with the FSC™ certified paperboard used in the main sleeve of the carton, this pushes its renewable content up from 53% to 82%, with no impact to its recyclability. This unique bio-based bottle delivers another milestone in a long line of successful environmental innovations at Tetra Pak.
“The Dutch Bioeconomy is based on world class farming and agro-industry with very high yields and productivity per hectare. Whereas the country is small in terms of size, often reflected in small to medium size farms, it plays a leading role in Europe in the agro food sector”. What differentiates the Dutch bioeconomy from other European bioeconomies? We have asked this to Willem Sederel, general manager of the Dutch Biobased Delta, who talks to Il Bioeconomista, right after the fourth EU Bioeconomy Stakeholders’ Conference that took place last 12-13 April in Utrecht.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
