Green Chemicals Blog
Clean technology
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
Solvay collaborates with Ginkgo Bioworks
This is a piece of interesting news from Solvay on the recent announcement of its collaboration with synthetic biology company Ginkgo Bioworks on the development of sustainable biopolymers as well as other specialty chemicals and materials that can be used from home and personal care to agriculture and food. As part of this partnership, Solvay … 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
Givaudan acquires Amyris’ cosmetics ingredients portfolio
Swiss-based flavours and fragrances (F&F) powerhouse Givaudan announced last month its plan to acquire certain cosmetic ingredients from synthetic biotech company Amyris, including a high-performance emollient Neossance® Squalane, the plant-based silicone alternative Neossance® Hemisqualane and CleanScreen™, a sun protector ingredient. This is an interesting development, given that Amyris currently sells several skincare products that use … 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
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
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
Amyris starts fermentation plant in Brazil
I have not covered Amyris as much as I would like to in the past few years as the company is more focused on highly-specialised chemicals compared to the products I typically cover for Tecnon OrbiChem’s monthly Bio-Materials report. However, it is interesting to hear that the company has finally started its new precision fermentation … Continue reading
LanzaTech files for IPO in a SPAC deal
I’ve been covering LanzaTech’s story for (I think) almost a decade now and it is great to hear that LanzaTech’s carbon capture technology (CCT) is already being commercialised successfully in large-scale capacities. In order to proceed with several other projects in their portfolio and a burgeoning sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) company called LanzaJet, which was … Continue reading
Canada seeks bio-based projects
Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) is a nationally focused not-for-profit business accelerator who provides critical strategic investment, advice, and services to business developers of clean, green and sustainable technologies. BIC is currently seeking Letters of Intent (LOI) for research projects to be considered as part of BIC’s BioProducts AgSci Cluster under an anticipated Agriculture and Agri-Food … Continue reading