New merger in the US bioeconomy: Aemetis acquires Edeniq

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Eric McAfee, chairman and Ceo of Aemetis

Aemetis and Edeniq, both headquartered in California (USA), announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Aemetis will acquire all of Edeniq’s outstanding shares in a stock plus cash merger transaction.

Edeniq, a leading cellulosic ethanol technology company, has developed patented innovations that unlock cellulosic and starch sugars through a combination of mechanical and biological processes. Its capital light and operationally efficient solutions can be easily integrated into existing corn ethanol plants. The company, founded in 2008, has raised approximately $100 million from some of the world’s leading venture capital firms, including Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Angeleno Group, The Westly Group, I2BF Global Ventures, and other leading investors, as well as US Department of Energy (DOE) grant funding.

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Stora Enso and Rennovia: new agreement for bio-based chemicals development

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Renewable materials company Stora Enso and specialty chemicals company Rennovia have announced a joint development and license agreement to cooperate on bio-based chemicals development.   
 

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Biochemtex and Valmet cooperate in the field of conversion of lignin into biochemicals

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Biochemtex's biorefinery in Crescentino

Valmet – an Australian leading global developer and supplier of technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries – and Biochemtex, which is part of Italian Mossi Ghisolfi Group, will start to cooperate in the field of conversion of lignin into biochemicals. To announce this are both companies in a note. The development project will combine and adapt LignoBoost and Moghi technologies. LignoBoost is Valmet’s proprietary technology for the extraction of purified lignin from black liquor produced by pulp mills.

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Kläusli, Ava Biochem: The bioeconomy is the biggest chance we have to decarbonise our world

Ava Biochem“The bioeconomy is the biggest chance we have to decarbonise our world and make it a more sustainable place”. Thomas Kläusli, Chief Marketing Officer at AVA Biochem and AVA-CO2, talks to Il Bioeconomista. AVA Biochem is a subsidiary of AVA-CO2 Schweiz AG, which produces the premium platform chemical 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) from renewable biomass, and delivers to industrial and research customers around the globe. “5-HMF – the Swiss manager say – can be used for many applications, including the bioplastics industry”.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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BASF and Avantium together for biobased films and plastic bottles

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Kurt Bock, Ceo of BASF

The German chemical giant BASF and the Dutch leading chemical technology company Avantium today announced that they have signed a letter of intent and entered into exclusive negotiations to establish a joint venture (JV) for the production and marketing of furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) produced from renewable resources, as well as marketing of polyethylenefuranoate (PEF), based on this new chemical building block.

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Avantium and Mitsui to commercialize 100% biobased chemicals FDCA and PEF in Asia

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In the middle Tom van Aken, Ceo Avantium, selected by Cleantech Group as European Cleantech Company of the Decade

Avantium, a Dutch scale-up renewable chemicals company that develops and commercializes a next generation biobased chemicals and bioplastic, signed an agreement with Mitsui & Co. to commercialize 100% biobased chemicals FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) and PEF (polyethylene furandicarboxylate) in Asia. As part of this agreement, Mitsui has been granted a right to pu rchase a sizable volume of FDCA from the first commercial FDCA plant to be constructed by Avantium.

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Michael Carus talks to Il Bioeconomista. An interview with the founder of the nova-Institut

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Michael Carus, founder and managing director of the nova-Institut. Photo by: von Pigage, Art Vision. Copyright: nova 2015

“It was a very interesting event, because for the first time the material use of biomass was really in the focus, instead of playing the second violin to bioenergy and biofuels only.” It is the opinion of Michael Carus, founder and managing director of the nova-Institut, relatively to the Bioeconomy Investment Summit which was held in Brussels on 9 and 10 November. With Carus, one of the most influential scientists in Europe, we talk about nova-Institut’s new study on biomass supply and demand, the CO2 economy and the circular economy.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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French IAR Cluster publishes an International overview of biobased chemical building blocks

The Futurol bioethanol pilot plant, France
The Futurol bioethanol pilot plant, France

French IAR Cluster publishes an International overview of biobased chemical building blocks. In recent years, bio-based industries have gone through a rapid technological and economic development. Several studies were published on this topic but most of them were focusing on market analysis and projections. Only a few were dedicated to technological developments, production capacities or stakeholders mapping.

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Marcel van Berkel talks to Il Bioeconomista. An interview with the Chief Commercial Officer of GFBiochemicals

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Marcel van Berkel at BIO World Congress in Montreal last July

“We believe that the future of chemistry is bio-based and that levulinic acid is the next big platform chemical.  This is driven by the need to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and our dependency on fossil-based feedstock.  Oil reserves are also limited.  This is nothing new, more a question of when we will be forced to move away from oil.  Rather than wait and see, we prefer to be pioneers of the emerging bioeconomy bringing bio-based solutions like levulinic acid and its derivatives to the market”. Marcel van Berkel, Chief Commercial Officer of GFBiochemicals, talks to Il Bioeconomista.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso  

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Invista and Plaxica collaborate on bio-derived lactic acid technology

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Invista’s technology and licensing business – Invista Performance Technologies (IPT) – and Plaxica, a chemical technologies company focused on the development of technology for the production of low cost lactic acid from biomass (founded in 2008 as a spin-out from Imperial College, London), have entered into a collaboration that is expected to accelerate the commercialisation of Plaxica’s technology.

Under the agreement, in which Invista will have an option for an equity stake in Plaxica, Invista will provide Plaxica engineering, technical and commercial support from its global technology licensing organisation. The two companies will work together to develop and commercialise Plaxica’s lactic acid technology, which the companies believe will offer substantial cost and performance benefits to licensees in the polylactic acid and bio-propylene glycol value chains.

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