Green Chemicals Blog
Biorefinery
Amyris files for bankruptcy
I hate to hear this type of news, but Amyris is one of the few remaining longest-running start-up companies I’ve covered since my ICIS days (around 2005). While artificial intelligence and digitalization have now come a long way, the field of synthetic biology remains difficult to commercialize, more so if a start-up is competing with … Continue reading
Dow is back in bio-based ethylene action
So I had a presentation last Wednesday at the Renewable Materials Conference in Germany, and in one of my slides, I talked about “The Force”. I did not realize how really strong the Force is until I heard this news from Dow Chemical today announcing their supply agreement with New Energy Blue for bio-based ethylene … Continue reading
Bio-PP and isoprene news
Happy 1st of May! This month, I will attend the ICIS World Surfactants Conference in Jersey City (4-5 May) and the Renewable Materials Conference in Siegburg/Cologne (23-25 May), so I hope to gather new information and of course, do some networking and interviews. The information I want to share on this post is an interesting … Continue reading
BOLD biomanufacturing and biotech goals in the USA
The recently-held Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference (ABLC) held in Washington, DC, on 22-24 March saw the convergence of different US agencies – Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Commerce, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) – with very bold targets below for the next … Continue reading
Avantium, Origin Materials form FDCA deal
I asked an AI program to create a blog post of Avantium and Origin Materials’ recent press release about their FDCA partnership deal, and this is what came up: —- Avantium, a leading technology company, has recently announced a partnership with Origin Materials, a sustainable materials company, to accelerate the mass production of FDCA and … Continue reading
Algae: Should they stay or should they go?
Sorry about the title, but my brain is clouded with the Clash song. I must confess that I’ve been indoctrinated with classic rock music for the past 4-5 years, so they’re now sticking in my brain cells. So, algae…remember the days of Solazyme and Sapphire Energy? I remember the former Cereplast had a subsidiary called … Continue reading
Bioplastics to enter 2023 with a strong capacity surge
I’ve written a special report about the bioplastics industry this month based on the European Bioplastics’ recent annual conference held in Berlin and the release of their industry data which was compiled by nova Institute. This report is only available for Tecnon OrbiChem’s Bio-Materials subscribers, but anybody can access the European Bioplastics Association’s press release … Continue reading
It’s the holiday season for US renewable chemicals
While the renewable chemicals industry continues to play second fiddle to biofuels when it comes to US government funding (it’s true!), the Biden Administration’s actions towards boosting the bioeconomy are setting off a flurry of activities on how renewable chemicals companies can dip in to these bioeconomy-related funding initiatives. Just yesterday, the White House Office … Continue reading
Solugen in the spotlight
Somebody asked me a month ago what information I have on the Texas, USA-based start-up firm Solugen. Unfortunately, I had very little in my archives since I started hearing about the company in early 2019 when it received $13.5 million in financing from investment firms Founders Fund, Fifty Years and Y combinator. The company was … Continue reading
USA launches National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative
I just came back from a 10-day holiday off (the longest vacation time I’ve had in years), and I promised myself not to check my emails, not to blog and not to check any work-related social media. It was tough initially, but I had a great time off exploring the Canadian Maritimes. One interesting trip … Continue reading