IL BIOECONOMISTA

The European Biopreferred is coming

13 February 201513 February 2015Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research investigates standards for biobased products as part of the Open-Bio project commissioned by the EU. There is some ambiguity concerning bio-based products which frequently have different functional properties and end-of-life options from petroleum-based products. To develop and improve these standards, however, misconceptions will first have to be identified and eliminated. Clear standards will help to remove barriers to the introduction of bio-based products on the market.

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British Synthace closes a £2.2 million funding round

11 February 201511 February 2015Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

Investment funds are looking with more attention to the bioeconomy. British bioengineering firm Synthace has closed a £2.2 million funding round with new investors SOSventures, Bioeconomy Capital and Rainbow Seed Fund joining Sofinnova Partners and other existing investors.

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VWR achieves a new acquisition in the high growth biochemical industry

10 February 2015Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

VWR, a US leading, independent provider of laboratory products, services and solutions, announced that it has acquired National Biochemicals (NBC), a full service raw material manufacturer and supplier to the biochemical industry. This acquisition will enhance VWR’s growing custom chemical and biochemical manufacturing portfolio, building upon previous successful acquisitions in this segment.

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Global Bioenergies reaches the first milestone of the BioMA+ project

6 February 2015Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

Marc Delcourt, co-founder and CEO of Global Bioenergies

French Global Bioenergies, one of the few companies worldwide, and the only one in Europe, that is developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation, announces having reached the first milestone of the BioMA+ project which is financed by the French “Investissements d’Avenir” State program. The project aims at developing a renewable value chain to methacrylic acid, a key constituent of acrylic paints. Achieving this first milestone result unlocks a €1.7 million payment.

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Evonik achieves a breakthrough in the biotechnological production of amino acids based on fermentation

5 February 20155 February 2015Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

Using creativity and unconventional ideas, researchers and engineers at Evonik, one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals, have achieved a significant breakthrough in the biotechnological production of amino acids based on fermentation. They integrated the separating methods of chromatography and reverse osmosis and an online analytical method based on spectroscopy—all of which tend to be used in other industry sectors—in a biotechnological process. This created an outcome experts had previously considered nearly impossible. The researchers’ objective was to achieve optimal separation of the desired amino acid from a fermentation broth.

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DSM invests in US manufactoring facility for sustainable resins

3 February 2015Il Bioeconomista1 Comment

Headquarter of Royal DSM in Heerlen (The Netherlands)

Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company headquartered in The Netherlands, announced yesterday a “substantial investment” in its Wilmington, Massachusetts (USA) manufacturing facility in order to produce waterborne resins for inks and coatings. Driven by its commitment to grow the sustainable coatings market, DSM will
upgrade its facilities to produce state-of-the-art waterborne resins for inks and coatings.

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Basf exits bio-based acrylic acid partnership with Cargill and Novozymes

29 January 2015Il Bioeconomista1 Comment

Chemical giant Basf has decided to exit the current R&D collaboration with Novozymes and Cargill to develop a bio-based process for producing 3-hydroxypropionic (3-HP) and acrylic acid from renewable raw materials.

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Short agro-industrial chains for bioproducts: Novamont and Coldiretti sign strategic agreement

27 January 2015Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

“A project to establish an agricultural sector which respects the region, which enhances the value of abandoned and unirrigated land in order to feed into the first integrated biorefinery model in the region. It will be in synergy with the food production chain and centred on high value-added products which can reduce and replace higher-impact raw materials sourced from further afield.” This is the core of the agreement signed by Catia Bastioli, CEO of Novamont and Matrìca (a 50/50 joint venture between Novamont and Versalis), Roberto Moncalvo, chairman of Coldiretti, and Mauro Tonello, chairman of Consorzi Agrari d’Italia (CAI), for the creation of innovative agro-industrial chains to create short-chain biolubricants and bioplastics.

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Alkol Biotech has started shipping of its EUnergy Cane sugarcane hybrid grown in Spain

26 January 201526 January 2015Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

Alkol Biotech – a Spanish research company focused on the development of new plant varieties adapted to the needs of specific biofuel markets – has started shipping of its EUnergyCane sugarcane hybrid grown in Spain. The customer, a danish provider of cellulosic ethanol technologies, will use the hybrid to test its technologies aiming to the increasingly large cellulosic ethanol in Brazil, and is receiving it as dry bagasse.

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Lux Research: Bio-based materials and chemicals from emerging technologies will rise to over 7.4 million metric tons in 2018

24 January 2015Il BioeconomistaLeave a comment

Led by growth in the U.S. and Brazil, the global capacity to produce bio-based materials and chemicals (BBMC) from emerging technologies will rise to over 7.4 million metric tons in 2018, more than tripling from 2008 levels, according to Lux Research.