Agriculture and chemistry are moving closer to each other. If they would integrate, Rabobank’s Daan Dijk said at the World Bio Markets conference, they will trigger the 21st century innovation … Read more
Novamont is an Italian company that aims to develop materials and biochemicals through the integration of chemistry and agriculture. It is one of the flagships of the rapidly expanding Italian … Read more
This site recently ran fine stories about more sugar, soon on the market in North-western Europe; industry will process that to bioethanol and further to bioethylene, with ethylene oxide and … Read more
Sorry, we publish the review of this book ‘Connecting Industries’ only in Dutch.
At first sight, the discussion was quite adequate at the meeting ‘A sustainable bioeconomy in 2030: are we on the right track?’. Organised by the Dutch Commission on Biomass Sustainability … Read more
‘Companies that consider the construction of a factory for biobased bulk chemicals, will have to consider Europe. Some years ago, this was quite different. Nobody even considered the option of … Read more
At EFIB, last October, the most brilliant lecture – in my humble opinion – was delivered by Johanna Buchert, a Finnish professor who works at VTT, the Technical Research Centre … Read more
‘Let a thousand flowers blossom,’ chairman Mao said long ago. This concept could be appropriate to the number and diversity of the unusual phenomenon of the Green Deal, a mechanism … Read more
Just a few years ago, bio aromatics seemed far away. Aromatic compounds could be so easily extracted from (fossil-based) naphtha, that bio aromatics seemed to be a dream for the … Read more
Roel Bol Sorry, we publish this review of the Biobased Economy team of the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs, headed by Roel Bol, in Dutch only.
It is tempting to compare them: Naomi Klein’s new book This Changes Everything on the disasters that threaten the old order, and our own book Green Growth (in Dutch) in … Read more
How will Europe, the Netherlands in particular, earn its income in twenty-five years’ time, in a sustainable way? How do we prepare for the world of 2040? By green growth, … Read more
The BioBased Materials and Chemicals (BBMC) sector has clearly recovered from the 2008 setback, when many start-ups performed less than expected and many went bankrupt. Investment is on the rise … Read more
‘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
At the conference where the report ‘Opportunities for the fermentation-based chemical industry’ was published, we also talked to Marcel Wubbolts, DSM’s CTO and president of BIC (the Biobased Industry Consortium). … Read more
This is going to be another story than told so far about the development of a green chemical industry in Europe. So far, the news was mostly negative: too little … Read more
Automotive industry does seem willing to use biobased materials in the motor car. But only if they comply with the industry’s demands: lighter, or cost reducing, or more comfortable, or … Read more
The share of biobased plastics and composites on the basis of natural fibres gradually increases in the automotive industry. But although these materials lower the car’s carbon footprint, industry does … Read more
Production of second generation bioethanol is taking off. In Italy (Beta Renewables), US (DSM-POET), and now also in Brazil. Here, second generation ethanol factories are an addition to first generation … Read more
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
Europe should develop a more practical vision on its future sustainable industry, says Dirk Carrez. ‘We do not have to stretch ourselves to be as sustainable and as cost-effective as … Read more
Food supply should have absolute priority, no less so in a biobased economy. Says Rudy Rabbinge, emeritus professor in sustainable development and food security at Wageningen UR. That is why … 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
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
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
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
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
The Dutch Scientific and Technological Committee for the biobased economy (WTC) has published its second and last report. Elsewhere on this site, we will go into the committee’s recommendations, intended … 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
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
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
Just a month ago, on August 3rd, we wrote that the European sugar market will open up in 2017, and that in preparation for that event, Dutch farmers/cooperatives now already … Read more
Many researchers claim that the biobased economy will be organised at a smaller scale than the present economy. On this website we held the same opinion. Chemical plants would become … Read more
Plants contain many valuable compounds, even in parts usually discarded after the harvest. For instance, waste products from growing paprika (discarded fruit, leaves, binding materials) contain many carbohydrates, sugars and … Read more
North-western Europe may become a feedstock supplier. Not a supplier of natural gas, but of sugar. A major opportunity for the chemical industry, and a possible breakthrough for the biobased … Read more
Even though the biobased economy may incur a smaller scale of operations, there is room for cooperation in larger areas. The Biobased Delta may become a fine example of that. … Read more
Willem Sederel, manager of the Biobased Delta, situated in the South-western part of the Netherlands, shows no doubt as he indicates the biobased economy as the prime development model for … Read more
‘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
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
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