Biobased polymers will triple in capacity to 12 million tons by 2020. That will equal 3% of total polymer production. The most important biopolymers will be biobased drop-in PET and PE/PP, and new biopolymers like PLA and PHA. Hardly any … Read more
In 2015, an entirely new agricultural policy needs to be in place in Europe. Hopefully, this new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will offer new opportunities for innovation, and for the cooperation between the chemical and agricultural sectors. The use of … Read more
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 agriculture, margins are very low. That is not because agriculture … Read more
Sustainability is growing in importance for the biobased economy, says Patricia Osseweijer. She is a professor in Science Communication at Delft Technical University, and she heads among others the Biotechnology and Society research group. The growing importance of sustainability shows, … Read more
If shale gas would have entered the US market five years earlier, this might have had very adverse consequences for the entire biobased economy (BBE). It might even have been killed at infancy, and the economy might have developed differently. … Read more
Sorry, this column on research on the common Dutch citizen’s approach to the biobased economy/society is only available in Dutch. Please mail us (through the contact form) if you are interested, and we will put an English version online.
Biofuel, fodder, chemical platform chemicals, and high-value specialties production. From algae which grow up to ten times faster than plants in the soil. It has the appearance of the biobased economy itself: major projects, a lot of research, test sites … Read more
Sorry, this column on the seventh Dutch biobased economy network meeting in Breda, is only available in Dutch.
The very moment Kenneth Epstein, an American venture capitalist, proved by solid data that the biobased economy in the United States is waning, a Reuters message arrived in our e-mail, unfolding a much more optimistic view. In both stories shale … Read more
Herman Vermeer is a farmer in the Flevo polder. He grows stew (potatoes, onions, carrots), wheat, rutabaga and tulips on 70 hectares; and he is a partner in a wind collective, with his neighbours. Among them they own 10 MegaWatts, … Read more
Certification. That was the common denominator in many contributions to the discussion in my group at the ‘Social aspects of bio-based chemicals’ meeting in Amsterdam, Friday 2 November. And cooperation. And the ambition to excel. The question was, what my … Read more
Sorry, this article is only available in Dutch.
Europe appears to be in a bad state. Poverty and unemployment are on the rise, the rich and the poor grow apart, the financial system is out of control. In the long run countries like China and India tend to … Read more
‘Even in 2011 we could not imagine the magnitude of the impact of shale gas on energy supply and chemical industry. Shale gas recovery, and fracking as a technology, have grown big in the US, causing the gas price to … Read more
The bioeconomy is regional in nature, and now Europe has discovered that, too. At a ‘hearing’ in Brussels it became apparent that the new wealth will be rural in nature, and will be created locally. The region will take preference … Read more
This October, EuropaBio’s European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and the Biobased Economy (EFIB) brings together a panel of multinational CEOs to discuss the evolution of a world leading EU bioeconomy. The bioeconomy concept has never been higher on the EU … Read more
Novozymes envisages new biorefineries which can process any biobased feedstock into any desired product in a sustainable way. They will be able to process straw, municipal waste, pig farm or dairy waste etc. As outputs, they see ethanol, food, feed, … Read more
Seaweed for human consumption. In the Far East, it has been on the menu for ages. In our bioshops it is quite expensive nowadays – but in the Western world, seaweed harvested in the wild, was poor people’s food, and … Read more
The environmental movement of the seventies, precursor to the present movement for sustainability, was largely anti-technological. Technology seemed to be inherently large-scale; it produced nuclear power stations and polluting chemical complexes. But technology has taken a turn into the opposite … Read more
Item in the discussion series on shale gas on this site. The European Parliament Environmental Committee is of the opinion that member states should be prudent in drilling for shale gas, until better data are available about risks. According to … Read more
Sorry, this column about a discussion in The Hague, 17 September, on biobased business opportunities, is only available in Dutch.
China’s 11th Five-Year Plan contains plans for development of the next generation of biomedical material applications, as the nation seeks to meet the growing demands of an aging population. Its declared goal, according to a Lux Research report China’s Expanding … Read more
We barely published an article intended to open up a discussion on the effect of cheap shale gas on the biobased economy ( September 2012), when Amory Lovins and Jon Creyts of the Rocky Mountain Institute published a column ‘Hot … Read more
Schuttelaar and Partners organise a political café in Nieuwspoort, The Hague, in the afternoon of 17 September. The theme is: ‘Biomass, boundlessly sustainable’. For details, we refer to the Dutch text.
Until quite recently, a few developments seemed to be clear, at least to the editors of this website. The economy would become more sustainable by finding alternatives for oil (over the peak), natural gas (source of international conflict), and coal … Read more
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 expert Dr. Fabrizio Sibilla, CO2 will produce many environmental gains, … Read more
Just for a second, one forgets Europe and feels a one hundred percent Dutchman on a hot Sunday afternoon. Where? In ‘Futureland’. Again please? Right, nowadays that is the name of the second Maasvlakte, the artificial harbour area in the … Read more
Mark Bünger, author of the recent Lux Research report on biochemicals and biomaterials (see the article on this site), holds the opinion that the viability of a green chemical industry is dependent upon many factors, which renders general judgements rather … Read more
There still are many obstacles on the road to a fully commercial green chemicals industry. That is the upshot of a study by Boston based Lux Research, ‘Pruning the Cost of Bio-Based Materials and Chemicals’ (also see the interview with … Read more
That is Nathalie Moll’s opinion, secretary-general to Europabio, the Brussels lobby branch of Europe’s biotechnological industry. Industrial biotechnology is growing fast, and is selected as one of six Key Enabling Technologies for a greener and more sustainable Europe. The European … Read more
‘We had quite some response, and congratulations from peer companies too, as we announced our next step in the implementation of bioalcohol production from corn waste end January 2012, a joint venture of POET and DSM.’ Says Marcel Wubbolts, DSM’s … Read more
‘In the ‘80s we at DSM felt that antibiotics should be synthesised differently. Although at that time, we did not produce those medicines ourselves.’ Says Alle Bruggink, former Nijmegen professor, former head of DSM Chemfern Research, and member of the … Read more
Sorry, this item is only available in Dutch.
In 2009, Dutch IMI institute interviewed eleven NGOs on their stand on the biobased economy, on behalf of the ministry’s Interdepartmental Program for the Biobased Economy. All NGOs are prepared to enter into a dialogue and welcome new policy developments. … Read more