Seaweed biorefinery: much work, high hopes
After an initial period in which ideas went in all directions, proponents of seaweed (macro-algae) in the bio-economy have now set down to the painstaking work of developing and fine-tuning their technologies. Single-product facilities, like for the production of biogas or proteins, have effectively been abandoned. It is now generally recognized in the sector that
New vegetable oil sources for the European oleochemical industry
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 castor oil for the production of products like plastics, detergents and plasticizers. At a stakeholder workshop preceding the 10th EFIB, 9-11 October 2017, in Brussels,
Bio-waste valorisation
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 as waste’, it should be valorised. That is: upgraded in an industrial process, insofar as the waste is not required as a fertilizer and soil
Fibres of the future 2: cellulosic fibres from wood
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 inflammable solvent carbon disulphide and is now abandoned in most countries. On the other hand,
Biobased chemicals will develop beyond the obvious
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 – we are just beginning to see what the future might have in stock. At
Cosun researches all beet pulp components
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 was sold as animal fodder; but it lends itself to much more, says Cosun’s Ad
Biobased economy is progressing quite well, says Annita Westenbroek
‘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 angles,’ according to Annita Westenbroek. Circular and biobased economy Annita Westenbroek is one of the
Mining bio-ore for nickel
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 this metal in its tissues when grown in the right soil. We want to prove that this can be developed into an economically feasible mining
