Green Chemicals snapshots

ICIS 2012 Innovation Awards

2012-05-30T15:42:00.001-04:00

ICIS is now eliciting entries for this year's Innovation Awards. Now in its ninth year, the ICIS Innovation Awards receive high-profile press coverage in ICIS Chemical Business and beyond. This year, were are pleased to announce sponsorship support from Dow Corning, Bayer MaterialScience, Shell Chemicals, U.S. Chemicals and CRA. There are five categories to consider: · Best Product (

Pactiv compostable food tray

2012-05-30T14:50:00.000-04:00

I am currently eating my lunch when I noticed the logo of my food's packaging and it said EarthChoice by Pactiv. Given my curiosity, I immediately googled it, and lo and behold, the container (which I really like by the way), is made from NatureWorks' Ingeo bioplastic. Pactiv launched its EarthChoice line in May 2010. More information on this link. addthis_pub = 'greenchicgeek';

Big green chemical news

2012-05-29T23:59:00.000-04:00

I set aside some of the news that came my way via email from Gevo, Segetis, Genomatica, LS9 and Solazyme. Last week, Gevo announced that it has started the world's first commercial-scale corn-based isobutanol production at its 22m gal/year ethanol facility in Luverne, Minnesota, which was retrofitted to produce 18m gal/year of isobutanol. Gevo's CEO Patrick Gruber said [in an interview] that

Weekly News Roundup

2012-05-29T13:43:00.000-04:00

I hope US readers had a great 3-day weekend. I sure did enjoy mine =). Unfortunately, given that ICIS' production is based in the UK and next week is the Queens Jubilee where my colleagues will have 2 days off, we are now scrunched to file earlier this week so you might not hear too much from the blog until Friday. I am also starting to work on my ICB article about bio-based polyamides so this

Uhde expands into PBS processing

2012-05-24T16:41:00.000-04:00

Some of the blog's readers might be already familiar with biodegradable polymer polybutylene succinate (PBS) if they have been following developments within the biobased succinic acid and 1,4 butanediol (BDO). PBS available in the market is currently manufactured using petrochemical-based succinic acid and BDO. European engineering company Uhde Inventa-Fischer announced last week that it is now

Brazil's first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant

2012-05-23T13:44:00.000-04:00

Cellulosic biomass technology developer GraalBio is planning to help build Brazil's biorefinery industry with a R$300m ($146m) investment of a new 22m gallons/year cellulosic ethanol plant to be constructed in Alagoas using sugarcane bagasse and straw for initial feedstock. GraalBio is also developing a new type of cost-competitive biomass called Energy Cane, a cross hybrid of sugarcane

Braskem's next bioplastic move

2012-05-22T22:13:00.000-04:00

The green blog was a bit concern for a while on the status of Braskem's green poplypropylene (PP) project when news of management shake-up within Braskem reached ICIS news desk a couple of weeks ago. However, I saw this article from BusinessGreen.com dated May 8 talking about Braskem pushing through its $100m sugarcane ethanol-based PP plan with a new 30,000 tonne/year facility in Rio Grande do

Weekly News Roundup

2012-05-22T16:22:00.000-04:00

Here is my (semi)weekly news roundup which has been stewing for a while in my draft box. School is over for now and I'm glad to announce that I am moving on to the next semester. Hopefully, this summer will be more productive for the blog. FMC launches environmental unit FMC Corp. has launched FMC Environmental Solutions, a new division that integrates the company's portfolio of products that

Opinion: Thoughts on Facebook and the Genius of Markets

2012-05-22T15:28:00.000-04:00

By Sam Nejame, Promotum Just an aside on comparative valuation. Isn't it a little strange, that a company which monetizes the social habits of teenage girls (Hello Facebook!), is more valuable than the future of food, materials and energy? Without exaggeration almost everything we touch, wear, eat, drive etc. depends on chemicals and fuels. Yet, right now the market capitalization of the

Finals week

2012-05-15T11:20:00.000-04:00

The green blogger is out of service this week. Good luck to me!

Siemens develop ABS plastic alternative

2012-05-08T18:15:00.000-04:00

Researchers at technology company Siemens have developed an alternative material to polystyrene-based acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plastic made from renewable-based polymers and carbon dioxide. The new material -- a result of a three-year project funded by the German Research Ministry and in collaboration with BASF, Munich Techical University and the University of Hamburg scientists --

Dutch CSM focuses on biobased chems

2012-05-08T12:17:00.001-04:00

Finals week is looming ahead and before I get bogged down with studying, let me post some of these recent news that came my way this week. First is from Dutch food ingredients company CSM, the parent company of lactic acid producer Purac. CSM announced yesterday that it is leaving its global bakery products business and focusing instead on bio-based ingredients serving end-markets in food,

Metabolix update

2012-05-07T12:31:00.001-04:00

As mentioned in the previous post, Metabolix management seems to be handling the company well after the Telles joint venture break-up with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) early this year. Before its first quarter 2012 earnings was announced on April 26 , the company has been putting out several press releases below: Metabolix Awarded Two U.S. Patents for Technology to Produce Biobased Polymers and

Live Blog: BASF Sustainability Conference

2012-05-04T10:59:00.003-04:00

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;altcast_code=efcf8333d8" &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;BASF Sustainability Press Conference&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;

Management reshuffle at green chems

2012-05-03T14:44:00.000-04:00

I noticed the blog has been receiving a lot of notices on personnel changes within the renewable chemicals sector this year and the most recent one is Amyris' top management team announced yesterday. According to Amyris, three of its management team - the president of global operations Mario Portela, VP general counsel and corporate secretary Tamara Tompkins, and CTO Neil Renninger -- will be

Weekly News Roundup

2012-05-02T15:33:00.000-04:00

There have been a lot of news in the past two weeks that the blog wasn't able to cover, and news are still pouring in as my colleague Clay Boswell covers this week's BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology conference in Orlando, Florida. The first big news for this week is Shell and Iogen's announcement that they are cutting off their cellulosic ethanol project plans in Manitoba, Canada.

ICIS Surfactants: Day 1

2012-04-30T23:53:00.000-04:00

[&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://storify.com/icisgreenblog/icis-surfactants-day-1" target="_blank"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;View the story "ICIS Surfactants Day 1" on Storify&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;] addthis_pub = 'greenchicgeek';

Live Blog: ICIS World Surfactants 2012

2012-04-26T08:28:00.000-04:00

ICIS Surfactants: Day 2 Live addthis_pub = 'greenchicgeek';

Sugar fatty alcohols on the way

2012-04-24T11:24:00.001-04:00

My article on sugar fatty alcohols has been published this week on ICIS Chemical Business and will be distributed at the ICIS World Surfactants Conference tomorrow and Thursday in New Jersey. There's still time for those who have not yet registered! We are expecting more than 180 attendees this year and the Thursday agenda will also focus on renewable-based surfactant alternatives with

Castor oil to the auto rescue?

2012-04-19T13:55:00.000-04:00

The global automotive industry is abuzz with the tightened supply of polyamide 12 (also called nylon 12) which are used in cable ties, wire insulation, flexible hosing, nozzles, damping cogwheels, flexible cover caps, sheet gaskets, sealing rings, and in other fuel line applications/auto-related parts. PA-12 is also used in plastic parts to make solar panels and cable coverings used in offshore

Green chem destination: Minnesota

2012-04-17T16:09:00.001-04:00

The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota (BBAM) recently released its Bio-industrial processing roadmap for the advanced biofuels and biobased chemicals industry to provide information for investors, businesses and stakeholders. According to BBAM's projections, direct and indirect employment in bioindustrial processing companies in Minnesota could total in excess of 13,000 by 2025, up from 2,000

Seattle Mariners 'Green Field'

2012-04-17T15:40:00.000-04:00

BASF has teamed up with US major league baseball team Seattle Mariners in launching its season-long Sustainable Saturdays program at Safeco Field where BASF will give away its compostable bags made from its Ecovio biodegradable polymers. More on this post...

Green chem products list

2012-04-17T13:11:00.001-04:00

It has been a looong time since I last posted any product introductions and this has been in my draft box for far too long. I hope these product news are still useful to readers. PLASTICS: Henkel - New additives for high-performance bioplastics Minerals Technologies Inc. Announces a New Product Line for Bioplastics Applications Cortec® Corporation Launches Biobased Film Products for Marine and

Weekly News Roundup

2012-04-17T12:29:00.000-04:00

Now that my sugar-based surfactant story on ICIS Chemical Business is out of the way -- that will be published and distributed next week at the ICIS World Surfactants Conference -- here is the blog's news roundup from last week. I also included bits of news that I just came across my email inbox from two weeks ago (sorry....) GlyEco buys MMT Technologies Glycol recycler GlyEco will acquire

OPINION: Notes from the Advanced Biofuels Summit

2012-04-12T15:32:00.000-04:00

Small musings from Sam Nejame on the recent Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference held in Washington D.C. last week. Sam Nejame is a management consultant to the biofuel and renewable chemical industries. ------------------------------------ Despite ongoing political and economic challenges, the mood of attendees at the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference last week in Washington DC was one