Green Chemicals Blog
sugar
Green PE coming soon in Thailand
SCG Chemicals Public Company Limited (SCGC), one of the largest integrated petrochemical companies in Thailand, finalized its planned joint venture agreement with Braskem to produce sugar-based ethylene with an annual capacity of 200,000 tons. The bio-based ethylene will mostly be consumed for the production of polyethylene (PE) under Braskem’s I’m Green™ brand. The project will … 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
Calyxt produces plant-based squalene
I guess Amyris will have some serious competition for its sugar-based squalene. Calyxt, a synthetic biology company based in Minnesota, announced this week that it has successfully produced squalene using its Calyxt-engineered Plant Cell Matrix™ biomass. Squalene is traditionally sourced from shark liver oil, but companies across several industries, including cosmeceuticals and pharmaceuticals, have already … Continue reading
Bio-based commodity chemicals in the spotlight
Will rising crude oil price again accelerate the investments for the commercialisation of bio-based chemicals especially for drop-in commodities? This month alone, sugarcane ethanol-based ethylene producer Braskem announced the establishment of a joint venture company with Japan-based Sojitz Corporation to produce biomass-derived monoethylene glycol (MEG) and monopropylene glycol (MPG). The companies plan to make a … Continue reading
Novvi starts renewable base oil plant
Novvi LLC and Chevron both announced the successful start-up of its Deer Park, TX plant, where it is manufacturing and marketing 100% renewable base oils for the lubricants industry, and 100% renewable process oils for polymer, adhesives, and personal care industries. Novvi said it added key processing steps and debottlenecked capabilities to make the Deer … Continue reading
EU’s OPTISOCHEM bio-isobutene project forges ahead
Although it is hard to keep track of the several EU government-funded bio-based chemicals projects these days, I do wonder how many of these projects were able to reach beyond the pilot and demo stages and achieved commercialization milestones? Anyway, France-based Global Bioenergies is among some of the public European start-up bio-based chemical companies that I … Continue reading
Braskem, Topsoe to build a demo bio-MEG plant
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate here in the USA! I still have more ‘catching up’ posts and this one has already been announced back in July during the BIO World Congress but I guess the press statement (delivered by our friends from Sustainability Consult) just made it official. Braskem has signed a partnership with … Continue reading
Sustainable Sourcing of Feedstocks for Bioplastics
Bio-based chemicals and materials producer, Corbion, has released a white paper outlining the company’s position on feedstock selection, as well as covering issues such as land use, feedstock efficiency and food security. The paper was presented in September at the company’s PLA feedstock workshop reportedly attended by some 70 companies throughout the value chain. Corbion … Continue reading
Protected: Agriculture Reports: Biomass, Sugar and Ethanol
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Genomatica gears for biomass feedstock
The use of waste-based feedstock is an important milestone for the renewable chemicals industry as it will further emphasize the industry’s sustainability and hopefully will lessen the cost of production in the long run (although market economics dictate that nothing is free if there is demand for it). Genomatica recently announced that it made significant … Continue reading