Company initiatives
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What do Brands Want? A Survey from Sustainability Consult
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Sustainability Consult presented at the recently-held World Bio Markets conference the results of its #WhatBrandsWant survey report, which was published late last year. The findings reveal brands’ growing commitment towards renewable materials and alternatives to fossil-based products. Half of the brands surveyed reportedly have already set targets for bio-based products. One quarter said bio-based content was…
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VIDEO: UPM Biofuels enters the bioplastics market with new partners
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Renewable diesel producers such as UPM and Neste are now in the bioplastic arena as more and more of their bio-naphtha is being used as feedstock to produce biomass balanced-based monomers such as ethylene and propylene. (For more on biomass balance, check out my last blog post: VIDEO: BASF’s new biomass-balance paints for automotive ) UPM’s…
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Neste starts bio-propane production
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Neste has started up the world’s first large-scale renewable propane production facility in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The first cargo of renewable propane has been delivered to SHV Energy, who will market and sell the product to its customers across Europe as BioLPG. Neste’s new facility has a production capacity of 40,000 tonnes per year…
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Goodyear unveils Oxygene concept tire
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How cool is this? Goodyear introduced at the recent 2018 Geneva International Motor Show its new concept tire called Oxygene, which has a unique structure that features living moss growing within the sidewall to help clean the air. This open structure and the tire’s smart tread design absorb and circulate moisture and water from the…
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NCGA highlights corn-based chemicals R&Ds
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The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) has recently awarded six new technologies who won the trade association’s first “Consider Corn Challenge“, an open innovation contest where more than 30 scientists and start-up companies brought forth their best ideas on the conversion of corn into bio-renewable chemicals. NCGA and state corn associations actively support innovation in research,…
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VIDEO: BASF’s new biomass-balance paints for automotive
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The first time the blog has heard about BASF’s integrated biomass-based chemical manufacture approach was in late 2013, and since then, the company has steadily increased its chemicals portfolio under this category. This month, BASF’s Coatings division announced the launch of its new Glasurit® and R-M® refinish paint product lines in Europe for automotive refinishing application.…
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Renewable chemicals commercialization to step up in 2018
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The year 2017 saw several announcements that point towards a more focused intent to construct demonstration and commercial manufacturing facilities for renewable chemicals. However, it was also a year of uncertainty with several established players and buyers, such as M&G, Abengoa, DowDuPont, Greencol, Toyota Tsusho, Coca-Cola, Solvay, and TerraVia, among others, either exiting their biobased…
