ExxonMobil is progressing growth plans to substantially increase earnings and cash flow potential while researching technology breakthroughs to reduce emissions, Chairman and CEO Darren Woods told shareholders during the company’s annual meeting.
Last Thursday Avantium hosted a Technology & Markets Day at its headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The company will update the market on Avantium’s strategy and technologies, in particular that of the Synvina business unit and the commercialization of PEF, a 100% renewable and fully recyclable polymer.
Avantium develops novel technologies based on renewable carbon sources as an alternative to fossil- based chemicals and plastics. Next to developing and commercializing renewable chemistry technologies, the company also provides advanced catalysis R&D services and systems to customers in the refinery and chemical industries. The company currently has three technologies at pilot and demonstration phase. Continue reading
San Diego-based Genomatica, a technology leader for bio-based chemicals, has acquired certain assets of the REG Life Sciences division (REG LS) of Renewable Energy Group, Inc., the largest supplier of advanced biofuels in North America. Genomatica intends to use these assets to develop a wider range of sustainable chemicals which in turn are used to make numerous everyday materials and products.
The final event of the European project FIRST2RUN will take place at the Square Convention centre in Brussels on June 20. Co-ordinated by Italian biochemical company Novamont and funded by the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, FIRST2RUN is a flagship project involving four companies and universities from Italy, UK and The Netherlands.
Finnish company UPM launches a new advanced wound care product for the European market. FibDex® is the first wound dressing created from wood-based nanofibrillar cellulose to receive regulatory approval and be awarded a CE mark. Nanofibrillar cellulose, which has been shown to be biocompatible with human cells and tissue, forms the core of the dressing. UPM’s proprietary nanotechnology, combined with over a decade of research into nanofibrillar cellulose and a highly professional R&D, has resulted in the development of this unique product.
Nouryon and Gasunie are studying an expansion of a planned green hydrogen unit at Delfzijl, the Netherlands. The feasibility study follows a deal to convert sustainable electricity into green hydrogen for SkyNRG. The plant, which would convert renewable electricity into green hydrogen via water electrolysis, could be scaled up from 20 megawatts to at least 60 megawatts – which allows for a conversion of 9,000 tons of green hydrogen a year.
SkyNRG, the Amsterdam-based global market leader for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), has chosen Haldor Topsoe’s world-leading technology for production of renewable diesel and jet fuel for their planned facility at Delfzijl, the Netherlands.
The production processes of the most important basic chemicals are responsible for around 70 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the chemical industry. “BASF experts – the German chemical giant claims – are working intensely on new technologies to substantially reduce emissions in these processes. The company has bundled all of this work under the roof of its ambitious Carbon Management Program”.
The European Forest Institute (EFI) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) plan to join forces on research including the role of sustainable forest management in achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and to better connect science to policy action.
The two organizations on May 24 signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Barcelona, establishing a partnership to advance and communicate forest science and support sustainable development. The agreement will help put forests front and center on the global development agenda, according to Marc Palahí, Director of EFI, and Robert Nasi, Director General of CIFOR.
Now, for the first time, Novozymes’ enzymes are available online through Alibaba’s platform for industrial products, 1688.com.
“We want to be a front runner in providing biological solutions online as well as offline. By partnering with Alibaba, we will get even closer to our end-customers, address local market needs faster and explore new application opportunities,” says Thomas Videbæk, COO and Executive Vice President, Novozymes.
