Biogas is big in Niedersachsen
In the landscape, differences between Niedersachsen and the Northern Netherlands are almost unnoticeable. On both sides of the border, biobased economy is in full development. A lot of research and talks take place in the Eems-Dollard regional association. Some important differences among the regions: farmer’s cooperatives in the Netherlands versus a more individual approach in
DSM was the first to discover biocatalytic ‘Green Pathways’
‘In the ‘80s we at DSM felt that antibiotics should be synthesised differently. Although at that time, we did not produce those medicines ourselves.’ Says Alle Bruggink, former Nijmegen professor, former head of DSM Chemfern Research, and member of the Dutch EL&I Ministry’s Scientific and Technological Committee on the biobased economy. Biocatalysis ‘Antibiotics form a
Grass, a valuable feedstock for the biobased economy
We should take another view of grass, according to Grassa. Cows in meadows are beautiful, but grass contains too much proteins for the cow. Why not extract that excess first? Besides, grass contains many valuable substances like fibres and sugars, which could be marketed separately. Grassa puts this philosophy into practice. Grassa’s history and that
Biorefinery, a new model for farmer’s incomes
‘Cows in the meadow in a real Frisian landscape will always be the subject of romanticism’, says Gjalt de Haan, ‘but the dairy farmer as the producer of milk as a sole product might change. In the Northern part of the Netherlands, a lot of biomass is available, which we can use in order to
Enzymatic polymerisation. New!
‘Enzymatic polymerisation is a totally new branch of science and technology’, says associate professor Dr. Katja Loos of the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (ZIAM), the top research school of Groningen University. ‘Most of the enzymes we need for this, we produce ourselves. Biobased now begins to gain acceptance by business, which was not yet
Biogas: the logic behind our process is strong as iron, says BioSys Group
‘The Netherlands lag behind in biomass use. Germany, for instance, has more than 3.000 maize fermentation units, the Netherlands just a few. On the other hand, now we have the opportunity to develop new technology.’ Says Jan van den Broek, Biosys Group (formerly Zeasolutions) manager in Assen. ‘Processing maize, we should remove proteins first, which
Biomethanol in the Netherlands
Methanol, commonly produced from natural gas, is an interesting transport fuel, and a feedstock for products like plastics and paints. Natural gas feedstock contributes to almost three quarters of methanol’s production costs. This implies a major advantage for countries which produce crude oil at relatively low cost, and traditionally flare natural gas. For countries endowed
Bioclear: we concentrate on the niche of the biological solution
Groningen based Bioclear bacterially purifies soil and water pollution. ‘Most bacteria we find ourselves, in nature’, says Sytse Keuning, founder and manager of the company, started in 1988 as a spin-off of Groningen University. ‘The cleanup of most polluted soils is done by bacteria which are present from the outset. Nowadays, we would not excavate
