Investments

This category contains 336 posts

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 »

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 »

Dow is back in bio-based ethylene action

So I had a presentation last Wednesday at the Renewable Materials Conference in Germany, and in one of my slides, I talked about “The Force”. I did not realize how really strong the Force is until I heard this news from Dow Chemical today announcing their supply agreement with New Energy Blue for bio-based ethylene … Continue reading »

Avantium, Origin Materials form FDCA deal

I asked an AI program to create a blog post of Avantium and Origin Materials’ recent press release about their FDCA partnership deal, and this is what came up: —- Avantium, a leading technology company, has recently announced a partnership with Origin Materials, a sustainable materials company, to accelerate the mass production of FDCA and … 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 »

Braskem mulls bio-PP plant in the USA

Braskem announced this month that it is evaluating the possibility of producing physically segregated bio-based polypropylene plastics using bioethanol feedstock. Braskem is also exploring partnership opportunities for this project with several clients, brand owners and suppliers. The press release indicated that this project will be located in the USA, where ethanol supply and infrastructure are … 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 »

Solugen in the spotlight

Somebody asked me a month ago what information I have on the Texas, USA-based start-up firm Solugen. Unfortunately, I had very little in my archives since I started hearing about the company in early 2019 when it received $13.5 million in financing from investment firms Founders Fund, Fifty Years and Y combinator. The company was … Continue reading »

Bio-BDO and Succinic Acid Updates

My schedule this October is so tight, but I need to squeeze in these two announcements because it’s rare these days to receive information on bio-based succinic acid and bio-based 1,4-butanediol (BDO). This brief news a month ago about TechnipEnergies acquiring DSM’s Biosuccinium® technology is very interesting to me, given that is currently the only … 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 »

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