Rising demand for energy, from biofuels to shale gas, is a threat to freshwater supplies that are already under strain from climate change, the United Nations said in a report last Friday. March 22 was World Water Day in the UN calendar. It urged energy companies to do more to limit use of water in everything from cooling coal-fired power plants to irrigation for crops grown to produce biofuels.
The 53.2 billion gallon a year (BGY) biofuel industry is poised for a huge slowdown in capacity growth, to a 3.2% annual rate from 2013 to 2017 – reaching 60.4 billion gallons – off from 19.6% annually from 2005 to 2013, according to Lux Research. The sharp decline is on account of a significant industry transition to novel fuels and feedstocks, to enable long-term growth in the face of impediments like the food vs. fuel debate and the imminent blend limits for biodiesel and ethanol. Next-generation biofuels – such as renewable diesel and butanol – that can offer higher blends, in contrast, are not quite mature.
“The bioeconomy is challenged by the fact that bio-products have to be anyway competitive vs traditional ones, but it can also open new opportunities if we set our minds not (only) to make copies of petroleum products but also to take completely new approaches to the material world”. To say it in this exclusive interview with Il Bioeconomista is Barbara Secchi, Senior expert Bio-materials and EU network at Bridgestone (the world’s largest tire and rubber company) Technical Center Europe based in Rome. With Mrs Secchi we talk about bioeconomy and the bio-based future of the tire’s industry, “possibly using biomass that is not competing with food (2nd generation biomass)”.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Succinity GmbH, the joint venture between Corbion Purac, the worldwide market leader in lactic acid, lactic acid derivatives and lactides, and BASF, German chemical giant, for the production and commercialization of biobased succinic acid, has announced the successful start-up of its first commercial production facility.
Novozymes – the Danish biotech company which is world leader in industrial enzymes – announced yesterday the launch of a new enzyme solution (LpHera) that helps make starch conversion more efficient. The starch industry is one of the longest-standing markets for enzymes, and within the food industry helps to produce a wide range of sweeteners and ingredients used in products ranging from soft drinks to sauces.
A new government. The fourth in three years. The third of these four non-elected by a democratic vote. Welcome to Italy. Rudyard Kipling said about us: “An Italian is a good person. Two Italians a discussion. Three Italians three political parties.” That’s right, historically we divide and we don’t know the political stability.
The new government led by Matteo Renzi, who is 39 years old (he is the youngest premier in the history of the Italian Republic) and known as “Demolition man” for his plans to scrap the old political class, was created with the old ways of the old politics: a palace coup. The man – who certainly doesn’t lack ambition – grew up as an opponent of the Palace of power today is in the same Palace, without democratic legitimacy.
An Iowa ethanol plant that will be one of the first producers of biofuels made from crop waste will be operating by June, Steve Hartig, General Manager for Licensing of POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels, said at the National Ethanol Conference in Orlando, Florida.
POET-DSM, a joint operation between leading U.S. ethanol maker POET LLC and Dutch food and chemicals group DSM, will be among the largest to make so-called advanced biofuels on a commercial scale. The $250 million facility in Emmetsburg, in the north-central part of the No. 1 corn-growing state, will produce 7 million to 12 million gallons of ethanol this year using cobs and other corn “stover”.
Versalis (the chemichal subsidiary of Eni), Industrial Relations Eni and the trade unions have reached an important agreement on the project at the Porto Marghera site (close to Venice) to redesign production facilities and regain competitiveness.
Bio-on, an Italian company founded in 2007 to create 100% natural products based on renewable resources or agricultural processing waste materials, and Magna International Inc., a leading global automotive supplier, have signed a cooperation agreement to start exclusive R&D activities on the use of bioplastics for the automotive industry.
Bio-on has developed a new kind of bioplastic created through the use of naturally occurring bacteria which feed off sugar beet by-products. In the process of fermentation, the material is turned into plastic (polyhydroxyalkanoate or PHA). The result is fully biodegradable in water and soil, an environmentally friendly product that does not rely on food as a natural resource and could provide alternatives to conventional plastics for the automotive industry.
A fuel of the future is being introduced to the streets in a fleet test launched by the joined forces of Clariant, a globally leading specialty chemicals company, based in Muttenz near Basel (Switzerland), Haltermann, one of the leading suppliers of high purity refinery chemicals used in the automotive, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, based in Hamburg (Germany), and Mercedes-Benz (Daimler AG). The Clariant sunliquid® process converts wheat straw into cellulosic ethanol. The company Haltermann then mixes the cellulosic ethanol with conventional fuel components to form the new fuel. The production of cellulosic ethanol is virtually CO2-neutral, saving almost 100 % of CO2 emissions when compared to gasoline. Sunliquid®20 is 20 % cellulosic ethanol, i.e. the well-to-wheel comparison shows reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of around 20 % with consistent engine power. There is no competition with food production or for agricultural acreage. A high octane number (RON) of over 100 guarantees optimal efficiency.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 