BioBTX: Dutch School of Catalysis strikes again
A room in the Chemical Lab of Groningen University (RUG) hosts a revolutionary test equipment. It produces bioBTX through chemical catalysis. This is a mixture of benzene, toluene and xylene, identical to the BTX produced from crude oil refinery. A ‘drop-in’ product that, provided it were successful and produced at the right price, might quickly
Ton Runneboom: industrial sugar might be a breakthrough for the biobased economy
In 2015, an entirely new agricultural policy needs to be in place in Europe. Hopefully, this new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will offer new opportunities for innovation, and for the cooperation between the chemical and agricultural sectors. The use of industrial sugar for chemicals and materials production might be a good start. But then, Europe
The agricultural knowledge model will change the world
Farmers handle their knowledge quite differently from large corporations. Fortunately so. For suppose that Shell would have to supply the world with food; it would be a disaster. For in agriculture, margins are very low. That is not because agriculture would be backward – on the contrary, at least in Europe agriculture is highly technological
CAP revision: integrate the biobased economy
In Brussels, civil servants are in the middle of a major project: the revision of Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. The future of the biobased economy is heavily dependent on the smart design of this policy. It is of major importance that we take the view of ‘functionals’ being one of the main products of
Patricia Osseweijer: infrastructure is important for sustainability
Sustainability is growing in importance for the biobased economy, says Patricia Osseweijer. She is a professor in Science Communication at Delft Technical University, and she heads among others the Biotechnology and Society research group. The growing importance of sustainability shows, for instance, in the share of sustainability related projects in the Biobased Economy theme in
Respectful treatment of the complexity of biomass
Many scientists from the molecular sciences, like chemists and biotechnologists, regard the use of biomass for energy production almost as a capital sin. It would be equal to burning down a top masterpiece. Many common citizens have a similar hang-up. They judge the use of food as a motor fuel to be unethical. For a
No glass wool, but flax wool
Three years ago, I attended a DPI (Dutch Polymer Institute) meeting, on the question to what extent sectors had embraced the biobased economy. Everyone present made much of the achievements in their sectors; just the man from the building sector said: ‘We would like to make progress, but here I stand empty handed. Please tell
Beyond food/fuel: let the chemical sector be a partner in the fight against hunger
World food reserves are very low. Reserves now amount to two months; strategic oil reserves amount to at least three months. Such low reserves are made possible by major achievements in JIT and logistics; they tend to decline ever further, while they revolve faster. But this causes the world food system to have a very
