Company initiatives
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BASF, Avantium in Synvina dispute
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I hate posting this kind of news but I’m still a reporter at heart so I just hope that these two companies will resolve their issues about Synvina, the joint venture formed by BASF and Avantium. The JV aims to set up a 50 ktpa FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) reference plant at BASF’s site in Antwerp,…
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Updated: EU Bioeconomy Strategy
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An updated EU Bioeconomy Strategy was recently released by the European Commission, which according to EuropaBio, signals the EU’s continued commitment towards establishing itself as a world leader in renewable resource efficiency, catalyzed by transformative industrial biotechnology. The 2018 update of the Bioeconomy Strategy aims to accelerate the deployment of a sustainable European bioeconomy so as to…
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VIDEO: Meet Nouryon and the New DuPont
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There had been so many M&As and spin-offs in the chemical industry that it is hard to keep track of them. However, I am particularly interested in these two companies, the new Nouryon (formerly AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals) and the new DuPont as these two have been proactive in the renewable chemicals market. Nouryon was launched following the…
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Frances Arnold, Co-Founder of Gevo, Wins Nobel Prize
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Gevo co-founder Professor Frances Arnold of the California Institute of Technology has been awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for her work on the directed evolution of enzymes. According to Gevo, Professor Arnold and her research group developed some of the critical enzymes needed for Gevo’s biological pathway to produce renewable resource-based isobutanol. She is reportedly…
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VIDEO: Methane-to-protein plant starts in Russia
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Unibio and its partner and licensee Protelux completed the construction of a plant in Russia producing alternative proteins from bacteria using methane as feedstock. The parties are currently testing the plant and expect to commission it by late 2018. In May 2016 Unibio signed a license agreement with the intent to upscale and commercialize the Unibio…
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P2 Science opens manufacturing plant
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Good Monday afternoon. My colleagues in the chemical industry are monitoring the flooding situation in the Carolinas and I came across a New York Times article about the dangers of flooding in various sites in these areas not only from chemical spills but also from Superfund sites, coal ash ponds and billion gallons of manure from…
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TOTAL opens recycled plastic bike path
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This is a very interesting and worthwhile news coverage given that I just came back from a road trip and encountered several roads and streets full of potholes. According to a recent press release from French oil company, TOTAL, the world’s first PlasticRoad bike path was recently opened in Zwolle, Overijssel in the Netherlands, which is made…