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
Dutch ecomodernism: down-to-earth but also a crusade against environmentalists
Mankind will have to grow more food on less land, so Hidde Boersma and Joost van Kasteren argue in the recently published volume (in Dutch) Ecomodernism, Rethinking Green and Growth. Genetic modification will play a major role in this process. And in order to feed the world, we need not even say goodbye to meat.
Whole crop valorisation
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 by valorisation of what used to be called waste streams. Fibres play an important role in this process, says Michiel Adriaanse of the Dutch Development
Purification of bio-based chemicals on an industrial scale
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 to overcome these challenges and at the EFIB-event in Glasgow, last October, various innovative separation techniques were presented. Using laboratory techniques on an industrial scale
CocoPallet: grow in niches and compete on price, says Michiel Vos
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 with a trade mission headed by Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte. Much of the husk there goes to waste on plantations. CocoPallet proposes valorisation of
Thermocatalytic reforming makes most of biomass
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 into synthesis gas, charcoal and oil of diesel quality, to be used as a fuel or for further processing. This will enable them to use
Gas fermentation: another promising biobased technology
At first there was just LanzaTech, about which we wrote four years ago. Now there are many others: Newlight Technologies, INEOS Bio, Mango Materials. Companies that develop gas fermentation, using gases like methane or syngas and processing them with microorganisms. Others have tried and failed, in particular those that concentrated on fuels, rather than on
Cleantech has much more economic potential than just low CO2 energy technologies
Cleantech might have a much better impact on the economy than just sustainable energy. In the large body of literature that investigates the economic effects of climate policy, most economists are on the pessimistic side; they assume that climate policy will be costly and will require massive policy interventions. But because of their one-sided eye
