The impact of mineral, fossil and agricultural assets as a weapon in international politics will gradually become smaller, we concluded in three articles. Substitution of critical materials and the development … Read more
The COSMOS Horizon 2020 EU research project aims at reducing the dependence of Europe’s oleochemical industry on imported tropical vegetable oils. It now imports much coconut, palm, palm kernel and … Read more
3D printing has the future. It will change the way in which we produce objects – maybe much less in factories and much more in shops around the corner. But … Read more
Nano3Bio is the name of an EU-funded program that investigated production and properties of chitosan, a promising biobased material. Recently the consortium held its final conference in Hyderabad, India. Chitosan … Read more
Bio-based park benches in Bergen op Zoom were in the news during the first week of September. The initiative to acquire eleven bio-based benches, constructed from a composite of lightweight … Read more
Researchers of the University of Bath (UK) and ModCell Ltd have developed straw as a low-impact and viable modern building material. As they say, ‘our research has made affordable, environmentally-friendly … Read more
Vredestein showed a prototype of its Fortezza Flower Power at the Eurobike exhibition in Friedrichshafen in August. This innovative road tyre is made of dandelion rubber. The prototype is the … Read more
Bio-waste is problematic from two sides. It may be a problem to dispose of it, and it represents an unused value. In a world where ‘there is no such thing … Read more
On August 5, the Biofuels Digest ran a story on chitosan, an exciting biobased substance with a bright future, almost unknown to the public so far (and unfortunately, also to … Read more
Cyrene is a biobased solvent intended to substitute toxic solvents in fine chemistry and pharmaceutical industries. It is produced by Circa, an Australian company that has partnered with the Green … Read more
At the Bio-Based Materials conference in Cologne, organised by nova-Institute, a special material came in second at the election of the bio-based material of the year: Paptic®. ‘The next generation … Read more
The International Conference on Bio-based Materials, an annual highpoint on the bio-based industry’s calendar hosted by Germany’s nova-Institute, was held this year for the tenth time, in Cologne, Germany. As … Read more
The biobased and circular economy is coming nearer and nearer. Each year, new applications of biobased resources come to the market. Industry aims at using the whole crop, among others … Read more
‘Green PAC is the hub for green (fibre) chemistry in the North East Netherlands,’ says the organisation on its website. It initiates and facilitates business driven knowledge development. Green PAC … Read more
Bioplastics markets show a stable growth overall; but within them, the emphasis shifts to disruptive newcomers; so we learn from two reports issued last month. Synthetic biology (synbio) technologies are … Read more
Separation and purification are essential processes in the production of bio-based chemicals. This is challenging because bio-based compounds can only be manipulated under mild conditions. Scientists and engineers are trying … Read more
CocoPallet is a Dutch start-up that valorises the husk of the coconut to pallets for freight transport. Last month, Michiel Vos, founder and CTO of the company, was in Indonesia … 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 … Read more
Biobased really is a sub-branch of circular, says Daan Bruggink of ORGA architects. The circular economy knows two cycles, technical and biological. The biological cycle of course contains the ‘real’ … Read more
The German start-up Susteen Technologies GmbH will come to the Netherlands with its thermocatalytic reforming process (TCR®), an improved pyrolysis technology. Its customers will locally transform various kinds of biomass … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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, … 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 … 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 … 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. … 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 … 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 … Read more
Imagine a highly-urbanized city where wood is the icon of its skyscrapers, structures in timber towering over iron and concrete tall buildings. It is a vision that does not only … Read more
Bamboo is a promising green feedstock. It is not only used for construction (approximately 1 billion people live in bamboo homes), we can now also make clothing from it and … Read more
We are underutilising waste, says Eva Gladek, CEO of Metabolic in Amsterdam. It is a very important source for a circular economy. The most important challenge is not technical but … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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. … 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 … Read more
Germany’s nova-Institute has published the first comprehensive market study on the consumption of compostable and biodegradable plastics in Europe, announced managing director Michael Carus at the 9th International Conference on … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … Read more
Two weeks ago I visited Cyprus to discuss a pilot project as part of our Alyssum initiative. The alyssum plant can absorb nickel and can concentrate extremely high levels of … 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, … 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 … Read more
It’s been another busy year for the biobased chemicals and fuels team at NNFCC; as 2015 draws to a close we take a look at some of the year’s highlights. … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … Read more