Environment
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EPA calls for 2017 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards nomination
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My apologies for the lack of posts this month as I have been busy working on Tecnon OrbiChem’s new blog site and other social media networks. We also launched late last month our new Handbook of Commercial Bio-based Chemicals and it is great to say that it has gathered quite an attention from both the petrochemicals…
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EPA issues rules on methane capture from landfills
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Something to think about for companies developing technologies that uses methane for feedstock in chemical/polymers production. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued its new final rule on steps to further reduce emissions of methane-rich gas from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills by capturing and controlling landfill gas emissions at levels that are one-third…
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DOE releases initial 2016 Biomass report
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The US Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has rolled out the first volume of its 2016 Billion-Ton biomass report looking into the potential for US to sustainably produce at least one billion dry tons of non-food biomass resources annually by 2040. This is the third…
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Get to know the New Plastics Economy
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While the blog is still in the bioplastics mood, I’ve been hearing more and more about circular economy when it comes to the plastics industry and I came across this interesting study as well as this new three-year initiative called the “New Plastics Economy” (NPEC) led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in collaboration with a broad…
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Dutch Consortium invests towards sustainable chemistry
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AkzoNobel, BASF, Shell, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Top Sector Chemistry, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, Utrecht University, the Eindhoven University of Technology and Groningen University, have formed a consortium, known as the Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium (ARC CBBC), which has announced plans to establish a national research center focused on…
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2015 American Cleaning Institute Sustainability Report
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I have been covering the cleaning industry since 2000 because of its connection to the oleochemicals market. The cleaning industry has been one of the front runners in their approach towards sustainability given their products’ role towards health, cleanliness and of course it is constantly being used by consumers every minute, everyday. The American Cleaning…
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New ASTM standard for plastic marine biodegradability
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ASTM International will soon release its new standard, ASTM D7991, on test methods for determining aerobic biodegradation of plastics in marine environments. The tests will provide ways to simulate how plastics degrade in seawater-soaked sand. It will provide specific test methods that determine biodegradation rates in different marine habitats simulated in laboratories. Such tests will…