Two factors are underrated again and again in energy policy: the potential of better energy efficiency (check here) and that of renewable energy. In our first column, we saw that important forecasters overestimate demand growth. We foresee global energy growth … Read more
Two factors are underrated again and again in energy policy: the potential of better energy efficiency (check here) and that of renewable energy. In Paris, world leaders have affirmed their intention to restrict global warming to 2 oC or less. … Read more
The European biobased economy strategy should not lead through drop-in chemicals. The key is in Smart, Small and Clever. This is the second of two columns on the European biobased economy strategy, published on 23 October and 27 October 2016. … Read more
Earlier this year, German nova-Institute published another thoughtful document on the biobased economy. It starts out from the observation that ten years of European policy making have not been very successful. The amount of biomass used in the European chemical … Read more
Plastic litter is a curse. According to Joan Hanegraaf, the only solution to this problem is strict regulation and enforcement. Look at Japan, Canada, Singapore. No plastic litter there. One would not even dare throwing a away a stub of … Read more
In his book The Revenge of Gaia (2006) James Lovelock reasserts his idea that the earth, living and mineral, is a self-regulating system. A system that is now put to an extreme test by mankind by the vast amounts of … Read more
In the past, biobased materials and chemicals earned scepticism. But the next generation offers high value in specialty chemicals, biopolymers and advanced materials. A clear value proposition when compared with their petro-based counterparts, says Lux Research; but smart business execution … Read more
Vertical farming is making headway into modern cities. Fresh produce being a unique selling point for vegetables, we will see more production units coming close to the customer. Vertical production units to be sure, often in old buildings and LED … Read more
Last week, we wrote about the versatile and biodegradable plastic PHA. The Dutch Platform Agro-Chemistry-Paper reacted to it: could you also highlight the pitfalls? Do you recognise the danger that most Dutch PHA projects start from waste as a feedstock, … Read more
PHAs are a family of naturally occurring polymers – no plastics in the usual sense of the word, but energy reserves of microorganisms. A very versatile family: we can process them to hard or soft plastics, and to both crystalline … Read more
Plants need nutrients, among which minerals. Modern agriculture has given much attention to macronutrients: nitrogen, potassium, calcium, sulphur, magnesium and phosphorus. And much less to micronutrients, elements like boron, iron, copper, manganese, molybdenum and zinc. Essential for plant life, albeit … Read more
‘In agriculture, much diversity has been lost, and as a consequence soils deliver less ecosystem services,’ says Louise Vet. ‘Just recently, we developed the tools to establish this – we can now analyse the DNA profile of soils. We have … Read more
At the Bio-Based Products World conference, in March in Amsterdam, two speeches struck me as particularly relevant to our times: that of Tom Domen (Ecover) and of Caroline Laurie (Kingfisher). Both companies are in the consumer market, and seem to … Read more
FD, the Dutch financial newspaper, today reported that Avantium will make new steps in green chemistry. It will construct a pilot plant to produce biobased MEG, directly from sugars. MEG is one of the components of the biobased plastic PEF … Read more
At first there was just LanzaTech, about which we wrote four years ago. Now there are many others: Newlight Technologies, INEOS Bio, Mango Materials. Companies that develop gas fermentation, using gases like methane or syngas and processing them with microorganisms. … Read more
Wood contains cellulosic fibres, embedded in lignin and hemicellulose. Pure cellulose can be processed to a quality from which yarns can be spun. The most well-known of these products is viscose. The viscose process however involves the toxic and highly … Read more
Recently Ecover, the ‘sustainable cleaning company’, announced a plan to use oil from genetically modified algae as a feedstock for their detergents. They were denounced in the strongest terms by Friends of the Earth and other NGOs. As if this … Read more
To me, the speech of Dr Laura Ruohonen of Finnish research centre VTT at the World Bio Markets Conference, last March in Amsterdam, opened new perspectives on the biobased economy. There are many, so far unexplored biobased chemicals and polymers … Read more
World production of cotton will not increase much anymore, I read several times recently – mainly as the result of its large water requirements. Whereas we know for sure that global demand for fibres for clothing will continue to increase, … Read more
At the bio-based conferences in Amsterdam this week, organised by Bio-Based World News, innovation awards were granted to Synbra and BioBTX. Bio-based awards The winner of the Bio-Based Product of the Year (Europe) 2016 was ‘Greeny’, a new line of … Read more
One of my favourite blogs, grist.org, ran an article this week on a subject so far completely unknown to me: gene drive. A subject of major importance that should be discussed by all our readers. Or would it be another … Read more
Less than a year ago, at the Biobased Economy network conference in Amsterdam, we heard Avantium’s Ed de Jong tell the audience that the long-awaited first commercial FDCA plant would ‘most likely’ not be located in Europe. But in last … Read more
At the recent World Bio Markets conference, president Marcel Lubben of Reverdia delivered an optimistic speech on the future of biobased chemicals. There is a place in the world for its star product biobased succinic acid, he said, even at … Read more
At Cosun, the age of biorefinery has really begun. Originally a sugar producer, it now looks with a keen eye on the opportunities of value creation from all components of its main side product, beet pulp. So far, this pulp … Read more
Do not use wood just for energy, say WWF and the Mondi Group, an international packaging and paper company, in a recent study performed by nova Institute and IEEP, the Institute for European Environmental Policy. This is remarkable, as many … Read more
Biobased chemicals struggle with low energy prices. If they are drop-ins, they have a hard time competing with petrochemicals. Therefore, the case for new, specifically biobased platform chemicals, gets stronger. This case is demonstrated by companies that concentrate on new … Read more
Many biobased chemicals and biobased materials suffer from low fossil energy prices – but materials with new properties are still in demand. This was the general opinion at the 9th International Conference on Biobased Materials, organised by nova Institute and … Read more
On this site we have always been concerned with the question of the shape and size of industry in a bioeconomy. Could it be much less dangerous? Concentrated in major industrial areas or strewn across the countryside, close to farmers, … Read more
At the World Bio Markets conference in Amsterdam, a presentation by Javier Velasco Álvarez of Neol Bio caught my attention. Neol Bio is a technology developer with a focus on microbial oils. Their current focus is to produce high value … Read more
Early this year, the Ellen McArthur Foundation published a policy report ‘The New Plastics Economy, Rethinking the Future of Plastics’. This is an important document, as it wraps up responsible thinking about the mounting problem of plastic waste, and what … Read more
The launch of a new macroeconomic scenario study marked the opening of the ECO-BIO conference in Rotterdam today. Biorenewables fulfil a key role in climate policy and in future economic development, says the LEI/Copernicus report, concentrating on the Netherlands. In … Read more
Cellulosic ethanol costs vary greatly among the six units now in operation across the world, according to Lux Research. The single most important factor contributing to the cost differences is feedstock costs. Sugar cane straw costs are half those of … Read more
With great sadness we announce that Paul Reinshagen has passed away, one of the founders and editors of this website. He died this week, 78 years of age. Paul Reinshagen was a happy man. All his life, he had the … Read more
Roundup, scientifically called glyphosate, is the most widely used and most widely criticised weed killer. Official studies find over and again that the agent is not very toxic to humans and animals; but there is a stubborn undercurrent that links … Read more
‘If you had asked me five years ago which branch of catalysis would gain the upper hand, I would have said biocatalysis,’ says professor Sébastien Paul, head scientist of the Realcat program in Northern France. ‘But with recent developments, I … Read more
Coca-Cola and Danone have not yet decided on biobased plastics for their bottles (PET or PEF), but DuPont announces another competitor: PTF. Last month, it published its plans to construct a 60 ton/year ‘demonstration plant’ (rather a pilot plant, at … Read more
‘Consumers will soon notice that the origin of everyday products is changing, with items such as clothing, shoes, water and soda bottles, and even automobile tyres being manufactured from plant-based rather than petroleum-based materials. This quiet revolution has been steadily … Read more
‘The biobased economy might not seem to make much progress right now, because very few major developments are being announced. But behind the scenes, companies make spectacular progress, they will only announce it when they have covered it from all … Read more
Last week, Reverdia and BioAmber announced that they signed a ‘non-assert agreement’. The companies are both involved in the production and commercialisation of biobased succinic acid. They agreed that BioAmber can make use of parts of Reverdia’s Biosuccinium™ technology, ‘in … Read more
Cleantech might have a much better impact on the economy than just sustainable energy. In the large body of literature that investigates the economic effects of climate policy, most economists are on the pessimistic side; they assume that climate policy … Read more
Algae are not going to be the solution to our energy problem. It’s their low productivity, says prof. Kevin Flynn of Swansea University to NNFCC. It’s their high production costs, says Elie Duran, director of Phycosource, to Formule Verte. Which … Read more
Natural fibre composites are plastics reinforced with natural fibres: mostly wood, bamboo, flax or hemp. They are increasingly used in consumer goods like watchcases, toys, combs and trays. The unique look and feel of these composites give the impression of … Read more
When in the seventies the discussion on the environmental problem erupted, Wiero Beek, then research director at Unilever, was one of the first industrialists who took the problem seriously. He devoted all his intellectual capacities to that task. Admirably so: … Read more
Ludo Diels, senior researcher sustainable chemistry at Vito, the Flemish institute for research of sustainable technologies, is very positive about the future of lignin. This third major wood component (after cellulose and hemicellulose) used to be a waste product, useful … Read more
Last week, we could hear everything about the wonderful substance isosorbide, a biobased compound with many useful applications. We were in Lille and its surroundings, on an invitation of the regional development agency of Northern France, and among others visited … Read more
Nova-Institute, together with industry and universities (notably the University of York), developed a new tool for policy and investment decisions: the Biomass Utilisation Efficiency (BUE). BUE analysis will answer two important questions regarding the bioeconomy and bio-based chemicals: how efficiently … Read more
The development of new polymers is a lengthy and highly underestimated process, says Jan Ravenstijn. Development of new polymers, like new drugs, will roughly cost about two decades and $ 1 billion. Therefore, it will take quite some time for … Read more
At EFIB in Brussels last month, Tom Beardslee proudly presented Verdezyne’s achievements in the production of biobased chemicals. His company will be the first to sell biobased dodecanedioic acid in the market; conveniently called DDDA among insiders. DDDA is a … Read more
In discussions on genetic modification, the name Monsanto invariably produces much controversy. Both its critics and its proponents can be very emotional. We will argue that Monsanto has taken the wrong turn in green biotechnology. This is the second article … Read more
Although some impatience can be heard among the stakeholders of the biobased economy, there are developments – slow but steady. Here we highlight some of them, though this might still not convince the sceptics. In a recent article, my colleague … Read more