The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Metsäliitto Cooperative signed last Friday a EUR 75 million loan agreement for the construction of a new large-scale bio-product mill in Finland (Äänekoski). The financing will be submitted for backing by the EU budget guarantee under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
The bioeconomy speaks German. Today in Frankfurt, Germany, Achema opened the doors. BiobasedWorld at Achema 2015 is the place where bioeconomy becomes visible and tangible. Just as bioeconomy is present everywhere in our daily life it can also be found in every exhibition group at Achema, therefore there is no dedicated space for BiobasedWorld.
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.
The EU-28 bioeconomy is worth 2 trillion euro, providing 19 million jobs, according to a new study by nova-Institute that Il Bioeconomista can publish in preview. The two authors of the study, Stephan Piotrowski and Michael Carus, present an estimation of employment and turnover in the European bio-based economy mainly based on available statistical information from Eurostat (referring to 2011).
“Most of the sectors – Piotrowski and Carus say – can be regarded as fully bio-based (agriculture, forestry and fishery as well as the manufacture of food products, beverages, tobacco products, paper and paper products, forest-based industry and biofuels).
As part of the 2nd Annual Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Forum, a new multi-stakeholder coalition, co-chaired by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), announced last week its intention to speed up the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy in order to contribute to meeting the SE4ALL goals of doubling the global use of renewable energy and ensuring universal energy access by 2030.
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.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 