Of course, a sustainable energy supply will depend primarily on the use of sustainable energy sources. But their intermittent availability requires major changes in the electrical grid. At all levels … Read more
‘It is logical that farmers’ cooperatives invest in the subsequent industrial transformation of their feedstock,’ says Yvon Le Henaff, general manager of ARD, the major research company owned by French … Read more
Last April, Wageningen Academy organised the Biomass Course, for the tenth year in a row, aimed at participants from industry, government, and research. A course that shows the swift developments … Read more
In the end of 2013, EuroBioRef came to a close, a major European R&D project in the field of biorefinery. The project included 29 partners in 15 countries and had … Read more
Cosmetic industry takes a renewed interest in biobased resources. Plant-based materials are ‘in’. Not merely because they are in public demand – also because biorefinery delivers a growing supply of … Read more
Claude Roy is a man who paints wide views with inexhaustible energy. As the chairman of the French Club des Bio-économistes his message, voiced for many years is that we … Read more
Flower bulbs, a wonderful product. Again and again, tourists gasp at the sight of purple, yellow and red fields in Holland’s flower bulb area. Dutch cut flowers and flower bulbs … Read more
Glocal is the buzzword at Ecover: a term coined from Global and Local. Glocal also is the name of a major Ecover project, together with Forum for the Future, intended … Read more
In my increasingly eurosceptical home country, The Netherlands, intellectuals take a renewed interest in Europe. The squarely pro-European essay by the Austrian author and essayist Robert Menasse has been translated … Read more
Women should play a larger role in the biobased economy, according to two practical women. And they used # Girlsday 2014 for an instruction of 24 observation year girls of … Read more
Over the past ten years, we witnessed a very unbalanced development in the global solar cells sector. China rapidly expanded its production capacity, and could therefore use the latest technology … Read more
The meeting of the Public Servants’ Sustainability Network in The Hague was innovative. Artistic contributions like paintings, a performance and positioning turned it into more than a purely intellectual exercise. … Read more
We are at a turning point in the energy transition, particularly as to the contribution of solar power, says Wim Sinke. So far, the instrument for opening up markets was … Read more
As companies strive to be more sustainable, their customers might grow more critical on their performance rather than less, asking questions that were never raised. At least, that is what … Read more
Whereas world capacity for biobased chemicals and materials is rapidly growing, Europe clearly lags behind. Lux Research, a Boston based company, expects a doubling of global biobased capacity in 2017 … Read more
Our industrial society exposes us to low doses of toxic substances. These are known to have health effects – but to what extent? For some time, air pollution and lung … Read more
The paper and pulp industry calls it MIMO: Multiple Inputs, Multiple Outputs. In other words: biorefinery of various resources in order to produce multiple end products. Of which the paper … Read more
Just five years ago, flying on bio jet fuel seemed an impossible dream. But SkyNRG developed a powerful concept that allows it to offer this product at an increasing number … Read more
As of today, the name of our website will be biobasedpress.eu. This is a better expression of who we are. Our twitter account was already called @biobasedpress. From now on, … Read more
In this series, we discussed three design rules: reduce capital costs and create jobs, be lean on materials flows, and preserve structure. Our last guideline, elegance is beautiful, sums up … Read more
Petrochemical industry breaks down the feedstock into its simplest components, and subsequently starts piecing all ‘building blocks’ together in order to arrive at the required products. Biobased industry will never … Read more
The future is to biobased, says DSM’s Anton Robek. In 10-20 years’ time, virtually all of DSM’s feedstock will be biobased. The question now is not if, but how fast … Read more
A biobased industry should not copy petrochemical industry’s structure: that structure has been optimised for over a century, for this particular feedstock. In order to compete, the biobased industry should … Read more
One of the discussion themes in the corridors of the World Bio Markets conference in Amsterdam last week, was industry-government relationships. Major European biobased industries feel frustrated that they invest … Read more
Will biomass ever be able to compete across a broad range of products with fossil feedstock, that is so much easier to recover and has such excellent economies of scale? … Read more
Researchers of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) have made a new step in the development of glycix, the only thermoset plastic that is both biobased and biodegradable. All inflexible plastic … Read more
‘Often, sustainability is not merely better, but cheaper too. Sustainable technologies lend themselves to local systems with far lesser control costs. That is the basis for a technological transition with … Read more
Pharmafilter is a Dutch company that has developed a new and sustainable system for processing hospital waste. It produces devices like bed-pans and urinals from a biobased and biodegradable plastic; … Read more
If plans work out as projected, Sardinia’s new Matrìca plant in Porto Torres might show the way into a new industrial future for the whole of Europe. The Matrìca project, … Read more
Most people, when talking about a sustainable future for Europe, think in terms of energy supply. That is one-sided. It is true: the energy conflict still deepens, as the incumbent … Read more
We are right in the middle of the most radical transition that our society can go through: that of a centralistic, fossil-fuelled society to a much more decentralised society mainly … Read more
In fifty years’ time, technology has changed from the bogeyman to the saviour of mankind. Large-scale and energy intensive processes used to be the pinnacle of technology, producing much collateral … Read more
The Dutch agricultural sector has one major problem: an excess of manure production as a consequence of the large livestock population. Dutch livestock farming depends on major imports of soy … Read more
Human error is the label stuck on accidents that cannot be directly explained by the failure of a device, be it mechanical, electric or electronic. But the other side of … Read more
Biobased resources and biochemical processes will change the appearance of chemical industry. Changes may occur in scale and in location. There will be a tendency towards a smaller scale. But … Read more
The recent report ‘Strategy for a green society’ (in Dutch) of the Scientific and Technological Committee for the biobased economy (WTC) puts an emphasis on biobased materials. Biobased materials are … Read more
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Sustainable supply chains are of great importance for the biobased economy, in terms of environmental conditions and respect for biodiversity, and also on issues of improving working conditions and farmers’ … Read more
‘The unique feature of our centre is the cooperation with the excellent plant science and green chemistry centres in our University,’ says Joe Ross, Director of the Biorenewables Development Centre … Read more
Europe’s biofuel policy has been reformulated earlier this year, in order to promote the development of second-generation biofuels. But this seems to have little effect: whereas second-generation biofuels from food … Read more
At EFIB, it was a surprise to me as a Dutchman, living in a country where agriculture is mainly about food crops, to learn that wood biorefinery is important in … Read more
Policy makers who aim to stimulate innovation, in the biobased economy for instance, sometimes exaggerate the importance of higher education. But getting innovations to be successful in pratice is highly … Read more
Flax and hemp are making a comeback. Many new products contain these fibres. ‘But the growth does not yet entail large volumes,’ says David Kasse, an agricultural engineer in the … Read more
Even though countries differ appreciably in culture, everywhere in the world farmers growing wet crops organise in cooperative organisations. That will not be different in the biobased economy. On the … Read more
On August 18, we started a discussion on the development towards a smaller scale in the biobased economy. We continued this discussion in a LinkedIn group connected to www.biobasedeconomy.nl. What … Read more
Entering the hall of the Dutch potato cooperative AVEBE, one’s attention is immediately drawn to a large pane of stained glass, showing all products once produced from the potato, one … Read more
Corporate strategies are a shaky basis for getting society on a sustainable track. They may change, if other strategies would incur more profit. The green CEO may be replaced by … Read more
Processing side streams to full-quality human food, that would be the ultimate people, planet and profit project. Veggiefiber does the trick; products with these fibres will gradually come to the … Read more
A week after IPCC’s publication of the summary of its latest report, EFIB started, the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology. We feel that sustainability is an important driving force for … Read more
At the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology (EFIB) this week, the stall of the Biorenewables Development Centre served freshly pressed orange juice. At the front of the stall, a large … Read more