Green Chemicals Blog
Europe
EIB launches €700m bioeconomy financing
The European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU bank launched in early April a new financing initiative that aims to unlock close to €1.6 billion of investment in the agriculture and bioeconomy sector. The financing aims to support private companies operating throughout the value chains of production and processing of food, bio-based materials and bioenergy. It … Continue reading
European plastics industry sets sustainable targets
The trade organization, PlasticsEurope recently published its 2030 Voluntary Commitment, which contains a set of ambitious targets and initiatives by the European plastics industry towards a more sustainable economic solution. This commitment focuses on (1) increasing re-use and recycling, (2) preventing plastics leakage into the environment, and (3) accelerating resource efficiency. For the recycling targets, … Continue reading
Map of European Biorefineries
Cologne-based nova-Institute conducted a comprehensive survey of all European biorefineries in summer 2017. The project was done on behalf of the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC). For this purpose, a large number of sources were evaluated and an online survey was carried out, during which biorefineries could register themselves. Eventually, 224 biorefineries were identified and mapped … Continue reading
Study: Biodegradable/compostable plastics in Europe
nova-institute GmbH recently published a study on the consumption of biodegradable and compostable plastic products in Europe, which reportedly grew to 100,000 tons in 2015. Consumption is expected to grow beyond 300,000 tons in 2020 if the legal framework were to be set more favorably. This is based on an assumed annual growth rate of … Continue reading
EU Bioeconomy 2013 Turnover Report
Here is an interesting recent report published by Nova Institute on behalf of the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC). According to the report below, 2013 sales from the European Bioeconomy (meaning parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources from land and sea to produce food, materials and energy) had a total of EUR 2.1 trillion. … Continue reading
Dutch Consortium invests towards sustainable chemistry
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 … Continue reading
Global bioplastics capacities to grow despite low oil price
The European Bioplastics‘ annual market data update, compiled in cooperation with the research institutes IfBB – Institute for Bioplastics and Biocomposites (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover, Germany) and nova Institute (Hürth, Germany), reported continued increase in global bioplastics production capacity despite the low oil price environment. The report noted a projected increase of … Continue reading
Oxo degradable plastics under fire in Europe
The blog has been reporting about oxo biodegradable plastics for years, and according to this recent press release from the European Bioplastics (EUBP) organization, it is noticing an increasing malpractice by producers for the use of EN 13432, a European standard for industrial composting, when marketing their products. According to EUBP, such products do not … Continue reading
Europe forms bioplastics network
The Bioplastics Organisations Network Europe (BON Europe) has been recently formed as a collaboration of national bioplastics organizations from across Europe. BON Europe was launched in summer 2015 with the mission to connect initiatives around the bioplastics industry on EU level and in the Member States. The BON Europe partner organizations represent companies that produce, convert … Continue reading
Europe launches Forest-based Chemicals Collaboration
I have reported in June on Tecnon OrbiChem’s Bio-Materials newsletter about this newly-launched Valchem project, which received €13.1 million funding from the European Union to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of an integrated biochemical process covering the whole chain from wood raw materials to a selected platform chemicals and lignin-based performance chemicals. The project … Continue reading