BioProductProcessor comes to the farm
Biorefinery will come to the farm. On the basis of small-scale equipment that fits in a container; that allows farmers to create more value from their crops. The BioProductProcessor feeds … Read more
Insect biorefinery: it exists, it works
Insect biorefinery. Almost unimaginable, a few years ago. And yet, it is in full development. Its products will come to the market soon. The insect world will show us many … Read more
Tina Sejersgård Fanø (Novozymes): we want to remain an innovation-based company
‘As a company, we want to feed the world, save CO2, move to a greener and more biobased economy, improve lives. But we always want to remain innovation-based and bring … Read more
The plight of the innovative SME, the case of SeaLife Pharma
‘In twenty years’ time, SeaLife Pharma will not exist anymore,’ says its CEO Alexander Pretsch. In many companies, such a statement would be cause for concern. But Pretsch implies that … Read more
Trust is the basis of successful R&D
The problem surfaces everywhere: how to organise successful R&D in a cooperation between research institutes and businesses. Two worlds with very different cultures. Each with their proper rules and their … Read more
Community and technology development with social media
Local initiatives often have tremendous potential. They use social media in their communication and derive great strength from that. Says David Trap, online media expert, in an interview with us. … Read more
EuroBioRef: what future for a major European R&D project?
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
Claude Roy: tackle global problems by valorisation of biomass
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
Solar cells: Europe can regain position
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
Circular economy: recycling agricultural and food waste
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
Toxic substances in food packaging – an opportunity for bioplastics?
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
Design rules for the biobased industry, #3: preserve structure
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
Elon Musk and a lot of batteries
“Cheap batteries will revolutionise the renewable energy market,” wrote ex-Secretary of State for the UK Chris Huhne past Sunday in the Guardian. For the supply of renewable energy it’s usually … Read more
Design rules for the biobased industry, #1: reduce capital costs and create jobs
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
Glycix, the biodegradable thermoset polymer that will conquer the world
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
Innovations in green chemistry, will they ever come?
There is a very strange body of regulation for biobased innovation subsidies. These rules seem to be exclusively intended to direct biomass and agricultural wastes to the energy sector, ignoring … Read more
Rob Baan (Koppert Cress): Horticulture should be more innovative
‘Frontrunners in horticulture should concentrate on fresh products that contain ingredients for a healthy diet and would be a remedy against diseases like cancer, obesity and diabetes2. The Netherlands have … Read more
Know-how as a location factor for the biobased chemical industry
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
Circular economy: do not merely close the chain, but slow it down as well
‘Cradle-to-cradle (C2C) shows some undesirable developments, in particular in the process of awarding certificates. C2C has become a business model, and the famous certificate promotes recycling and therefore discarding of … Read more
Innovations across the entire value pyramid of the biobased economy
Agriculture, with its renewable feedstock, materials, textile fibres, food products and medicinal plants, has been the supplier of mankind with its livelihood for ages. By innovations, agriculture will again take … Read more
Cooperative organisations are of major importance for the biobased economy
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
The Bioprocess Pilot Facility in Delft
New prospects in industrial biotechnology (processes, new products) developed in the lab will have to be tested at a relevant scale before they can be taken into commercial production. A … Read more
AVEBE looks for innovators
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
Jan van Hest: ‘Synthetic biology and chemical biology develop common ground’
The biobased economy is a practical matter: the efficient production of chemicals and materials from agricultural products and agricultural waste. But there is a lot of movement at the scientific … Read more
New technologies will boost gasoline production from natural gas or waste
The price of crude oil has risen to a level at which it will transform the fuels landscape, says Lux Research, an American advisory group. In the United States, this … Read more
Green Chemistry Campus: at the intersection of agriculture and chemistry
The Bergen op Zoom region, in the Southwestern part of the Netherlands, is the centre of the new green economy – for those who did not know yet. They have … Read more
Emmo Meijer: society has lost the conviction that science is the motor of progress
‘Dutch government officials do not support any more the idea that the country has to invest in research. There are hardly any knowledgeable civil servants who have an idea of … Read more
Piezoelectricity, for a world using less resources
Piezoelectricity is on the rise. Piezoelectric cells produce electricity from vibrations, or conversely vibrations from electricity. The former is relevant for energy harvesting, for our world increasingly needs the small … Read more
Design promotes the biobased economy
How does one draw public attention to the new, green economy? And the industry’s attention? The answer: call in the creative people, the industrial designers, the architects, the game and … Read more
Johan Sanders: counteract inefficiency in biobased economy development
‘The biobased economy is based on another logic than the existing economy,’ says Johan Sanders. ‘And many problems in the transition to a biobased economy arise from the fact that … Read more
BRIDGE: a unique link between innovative sectors
A happy man, Barend Verachtert called himself, head of the unit Biotechnology of DG Research & Innovation of the European Commission. Friday 17 May 2013, at 5 o’clock in the … Read more
Innovation, the Dutch disease
Once, Dutch Lagerwey wind turbines were the best and most innovative, but did that lead to a major wind turbine industry? No, that branch is in the hands of the … Read more
Urban agriculture, a new economic branch
At least one hundred projects have applied for a stand on the second exhibition day for urban agriculture in the Netherlands. ‘The sector is growing so fast that next year, … Read more
Innovation, will we ever see it coming
Sorry, this article on Dutch innovation policy is only available in Dutch.
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, … Read more
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 … Read more
Huub de Groot: artificial photosynthesis is going to be the backbone of energy supply
‘I expect artificial photosynthesis to be fully operational in 2050; by that time it will be the backbone of energy supply,’ says Huub de Groot, professor in biophysical organic chemistry … Read more
Thin film PV maintains its rapid development pace
Whereas silicon wafer based PV technology keeps improving and production costs of PV electricity keeps falling, thin film PV is on its way to develop as a mass product as … Read more
First European GM algae project
Although the official European Commission policy still rejects GMO products for food (green biotech), there seems to be a policy change in the approach to industrial biotechnology (white biotech). In … Read more
BioAmber: the success of open innovation and partnering
It is just a small company, BioAmber, and it is quite young as well. Yet, is has concluded a large number of cooperation agreements, and many chemical companies are interested. … Read more
Danish Novozymes and Italian Beta Renewables join forces in cellulosic biofuel projects
In Denmark and Italy, Novozymes, the world’s largest producer of industrial enzymes, and Beta Renewables, a global leader in cellulosic biofuels and part of Gruppo Mossi & Ghisolfi, announced an … Read more
Biofuels without agro
They were awarded many prizes for their innovative technology. New Zealand’s LanzaTech owns an entire fleet of bacteria, fit to process industrial waste gases and waste products directly into biofuels … Read more
Betaprocess: acceleration of fermentation by vacuum extrusion
DSD BV (Dutch Sustainable Development BV) has made available online information about its Betaprocess, in Dutch, English, German and French. Betaprocess operates on the basis of vacuum extrusion, which rips … Read more
The carbon dioxide economy, the next revolution in chemistry
Carbon dioxide is not a waste material but a feedstock. That was the idea behind the German nova-Institut’s conference, one of the first CO2-conferences to be held in Europe. And … Read more
China might master artificial photosynthesis and artificial meat within five years
‘Chinese concentrate in their research on four important areas: CO2-economy (of which artificial photosynthesis is a part), solar energy (PV), methanol, and artificial meat (proteins).’ According to Michael Carus, director, … Read more
EuropaBio’s Most Innovative Biotech SME Award 2012
The Austrian healthcare Biotech SME ProtAffin AG and the French Global Bioenergies are the joint winners of the Most Innovative Biotech SME Award 2012. EuropaBio names three other outstanding runners … Read more
Carbon dioxide economy
German Nova-institute released an interesting press release, August 15: ‘The next revolution: CO2 plus renewable energy can serve as a feedstock for fuels, chemicals and plastics’. According to Nova’s CO2 … Read more
DSM, a smart player in the biobased economy
There is a big opportunity for the Dutch chemical industry beyond bulk products. A small country, with a strong agro-food sector and specialized technology, should aim to develop knowledge and … Read more
Why PEF is better than PET
Biobased PEF (polyethylene furanoate), the new feedstock for soft drink bottles (Coca Cola and Danone) is not only green, but also cheaper to produce than both fossil and drop-in green … Read more
Avantium’s furanic technology, a giant awakening
Just two years ago Tom van Aken, Avantium’s CEO, called its 2,5-furanic dicarboxylic acid (FDCA) a sleeping giant. But since Coca-Cola and other big players are putting bags of development … Read more