Everything is ready in Brussels to host the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and Bioeconomy. Taking place on 27-29 October at SQUARE Brussels Meeting Centre, EFIB 2015 – 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.
Synthetic biology start-ups developing technologies to convert biomass and other non-petroleum feedstocks into chemicals and materials need, on average, 7.4 years to launch a product, according to a Lux Research analysis. Using this data to project the output from the current crop of young synbio companies suggests most are likely to launch first products between 2017 and 2022, with a peak occurring between 2019 and 2020.
A major Dutch initiative designed to investigate how waste can be used as a raw material to produce chemicals has more than doubled in size since being launched late last year. Initially formed by AkzoNobel, Enerkem and four regional partners, the collaboration has since attracted eight more commercial parties.
Adisseo, a world leader in nutritional solutions and additives for animal feed, and Novozymes have entered into a partnership to develop and market probiotics for poultry.
This week the global bioenergy community gathers in Vienna. From today to 4th June, more than 1,200 registered participants from 76 countries and 40 associations and International organizations will animate the 23rd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition. With over 803 presentations from 2,650 authors and co-authors, 3 parallel events and 7 workshops, the EUBCE has become a world leading event to get the latest results from top research organizations, as well as to discover the most innovative bioenergy applications from industry and to hear from international subject experts about the state of play and the policy context that are shaping this sector.
With the bioplastic developed by Bio-on, it is now possible to create capsules for controlled drug administration inside the human body or for gradual release of active substances in agriculture. The properties of MINERV PHA bioplastic, completely “biobased” and 100% naturally biodegradable, enable the creation of micro and nano particles, both full and hollow, in which the trapped active substance is released gradually, even after months, exploiting the biodegradability of bioplastic. In this way, it is possible to administer directly in the human body numerous types of drugs such as anaesthetics, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, antitumor, hormones, steroids and vaccines. Cosmetic or agricultural use is equally broad.
Novozymes announced a deal to supply enzyme technology to a new biorefinery that will be built by St1 Biofuels in Kajaani, Finland. The facility will be co-located at a sawmill site, and will be the first facility in the world to use sawdust (sawdust or wood dust is a by-product of the forestry industry and is composed of fine particles of wood) from softwood as feedstock to produce cellulosic ethanol at commercial scale. The process uses steam-explosion to open up the cellulosic structures of the sawdust, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis to extract the sugars for ethanol fermentation.
French biotech company Global Bioenergies and Audi announce that the first batch of renewable gasoline has been produced. It will be presented to Audi by Global Bioenergies during a press conference to be held in Pomacle on the 21st of May.
Fulcrum BioEnergy has awarded a $200 million fixed-price engineering, procurement and construction (“EPC”) contract to Abengoa for the construction of Fulcrum’s first municipal solid waste (“MSW”) to transportation fuels facility, the Sierra BioFuels Plant. The Sierra BioFuels Plant will utilize Fulcrum’s process for converting everyday household garbage that would otherwise be landfilled, into renewable syncrude that will be upgraded to jet fuel.
“The bioeconomy provides new markets and opportunities for growth, which we would like to take advantage of.” To say it was last Friday Herman Onko Aikens, Minister of Agriculture and the Environment of German Region Saxony-Anhalt at the fourth International Bioeconomy Conference was held in Halle (Saale). It was organized by the ScienceCampus Halle – Plant-based Bioeconomy and the BioEconomy Cluster, a Leading-Edge Cluster of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. More than 180 international experts in science, politics and the economy discussed the conditions and opportunities surrounding the transition away from petroleum towards renewable, bio-based raw materials. The conference at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) demonstrated the key role the bioeconomy will play in Saxony-Anhalt’s future.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 