EuropaBio, The European Association for bio-industries, and Smithers Rapra unveil highly-anticipated agenda for the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology (EFIB) from 1-2 October 2013 taking place in the heart of Brussels at SQUARE. Officially launched by Elio di Rupo, Prime Minister of Belgium, EFIB’s opening plenary brings together a host of keynote speakers including Rudolf Strohmeier, Deputy Director General R&I at the European Commission; Maria da Graça Carvalho, Rapporteur on Horizon 2020 in the European Parliament and CEOs of Ecover and Galactic. Followed by exciting partnership perspectives from the Plant PET Technology Collaborative and a session lead by Ian Hudson, President of DuPont EMEA, examining the triggers for big business to make the shift towards the biobased economy. All speakers set the scene for another outstanding year, and transform the event from conference to congress.
bioeconomy
Cereplast announces new bioplastic resin grade with 51% algae biomass
Cereplast, Inc., a leading manufacturer of proprietary biobased, compostable and sustainable bioplastics, has announced a new bioplastic resin grade Biopropylene(R) A150D, an injection molding grade manufactured with 51% post-industrial algae biomass.
The post-industrial algae grade is the first offering with 51% algae content and will be commercially available this quarter. Additionally, the biomass content dramatically reduces the carbon footprint of the final product while reducing the petroleum-based plastic content. Biopropylene A150D has low to no odor due to the discovery of a post-industrial process that significantly reduces the distinctive smell that is inherent to algae biomass.
Synergy in two approaches to breaking down cell walls of biomass
Enzymes could break down cell walls faster – leading to less expensive biofuels for transportation – if two enzyme systems are brought together in an industrial setting, new research by the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory suggests. A paper on the breakthrough, “Fungal Cellulases and Complexed Cellulosomal Enzymes Exhibit Synergistic Mechanisms in Cellulose Deconstruction,” appears in the current edition of Energy and Environmental Science. Co-authors include five scientists from NREL, the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development, and one from the Weizmann Institute in Israel.
The Italian new government and the bioeconomy: everything needs to change, so everything can stay the same
Italy’s new government has been sworn in, ending two months of political deadlock, after politicians agreed on Saturday to form a three-party coalition, which will also include technocrats in key positions.
The impression, however, is to be faced with a handful of men and women engaged in a desperate defense of a power gained in many ways fortuitously, on the verge of sinking at any time in front of a chaos which is hard to dominate. With Silvio Berlusconi came out again as big winner and ready to pull the plug as soon as the polls will comfort him about the possibility of winning elections (even with the current electoral law, which does not guarantee the governability and for no other called by its author, Senator of Lega Nord Roberto Calderoli, like “a crap”). In short, it seems that once again in Italy, to quote from The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, “everything needs to change, so everything can stay the same”. Continue reading
PoliKompleks invests 30 million euros to construct a bioplastics plant in Russia
PoliKompleks, a Russian industrial biotechnology company, plans to invest around 1,2 billion rubles, 30 million euros, to construct a bioplastics production complex in Russia’s far western enclave of Kaliningrad. To say it is Nikolai Tsukanov, governor of the Kaliningrad Region.
PoliKompleks has reached agreement to establish plants for products based on lactic acid and polylactides (PLA) for the manufacture of some 50,000 tpa of biocomposites. The complex will also have a biodegradable de-icing reagents plant with a capacity of around 12,000 tpa. The Russian company expected to reach an annual turnover of 1,4 billion rubles, approximately 34 million euros.
Shopping in Denmark for the Norwegian Seaweed Energy Solutions
Seaweed Energy Solutions, a Norwegian company focused on seaweed-to-fuel business, has reached an agreement to acquire 100 percent of Denmark’s Seaweed Seed Supply AS, a move that sharply reinforces SES’ position as Europe’s leading player in large-scale seaweed cultivation for renewable energy and other uses.
The acquisition of Seaweed Seed Supply marks a key step for SES in its strategy of pioneering large-scale seaweed farming due to Seaweed Seed Supply’s position as Denmark’s leading commercial producer of seaweed for fish and livestock feed on a sustainable basis. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
With the purchase, Seaweed Seed Supply’s goal of increasing production to 100,000 tons by 2017 from the current 5,000 tons capacity can become a reality. SES technology will be introduced in Denmark and the two companies will jointly improve and adapt the technology to the local environment.
US and Israel collaborate on advanced biofuels development
More than a dozen of Israel’s top academic and industrial biofuels research scientists and innovators are in Washington to begin a week-long dialogue with their American counterparts at the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture, and the Navy, FAA and the private sector. They will be meeting with White House officials and with top government energy program managers and scientists in Washington, DC and at DOE labs in Oak Ridge Tennessee and in California. The scientific exchange, April 17th – 25th, has been designed to help build U.S.-Israel collaboration mechanisms for research and innovation to produce alternative fuels (“advanced biofuels”) that can substitute for petroleum-based gasoline, diesel oil and aviation fuel currently produced from imported oil.
Mossi & Ghisolfi acquires IntegRex PTA technology license for use in Texas PTA-PET new plant
Mossi&Ghisolfi Group announced last Wednesday a Licensee Agreement with Alpek, the largest petrochemical company in Mexico and the second largest in Latin America, for IntegRex PTA, Purified terephthalic acid, technology. The technology will be used in the construction of M&G’s previously announced 1,200,000 MT per annum PTA plant at Corpus Christi, Texas. M&G also announced, Alpek purchased for a price of $350 million a multiyear sourcing agreement covering rights 400,000 MT of PET, Polyethylene terephthalate, (made with 336,000 MT of integrated PTA) per year.
Martin Schnee, Breslin AG: “Investments into alternative sources might be re-thought”
“Shale gas might be a game changer by bringing gas, coal and finally oil prices down. And cheap oil will no drive industries to make high investments into alternative raw materials”. To say it is Martin Schnee, partner of Breslin, one of the most important transaction strategic advisory companies in Europe in the field of bioeconomy, with offices in Zurich, London, Frankfurt am Main and Munich. In the context of the development of the bioeconomy, Schnee warns against the increasingly important role played by shale gas, a natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Shale gas has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States since the start of this century, and interest has spread to potential gas shales in the rest of the world. In 2000 shale gas provided only 1% of U.S. natural gas production; by 2010 it was over 20% and the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration predicts that by 2035, 46% of the United States’ natural gas supply will come from shale gas. Schnee speaks with us about bioeconomy from an investment point of view, considering that “alternative energy and biomaterials from alternative sources might make a large contribution to Europe’s future growth”.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Chatham House: UK biofuel policy may need to be modified
UK biofuel policy may need to be modified. To say it is a report published by Chatham House, a british think tank focused on “Costs and Consequences of Expanding Biofuel Use in the United Kingdom”. According to Rob Bailey, author of the report, “in its present form the RTFO (Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, editor’s note) may not be an appropriate instrument for achieving the RED (Renewable Energy Directive, editor’s note) target economically. Its volumetric target incentivizes suppliers to minimize cost per litre by supplying ethanol, thereby also minimizing the amount of energy supplied by biofuels. This runs counter to the objective of the RED to increase the share of energy from biofuels.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 