Green Chemicals snapshots

NatureWorks, BioAmber form JV

2012-02-16T21:58:00.001-05:00

Sorry about the delay in the posting of the story. The blogger had to move to another cubicle...again...I think we have been moving from floor to floor (or cubicle to cubicle) every year at work. Anyway, here is the story I submitted to ICIS News about NatureWorks and BioAmber announcing today the formation of their joint venture, AmberWorks. I will write a separate, more detailed article for

Unsustainable word?

2012-02-16T13:42:00.000-05:00

I just filed my story about the AmberWorks JV on ICIS News, and will soon post it on the blog as well. In the meantime, let me share this hilarious graph send to me by the blog's good friend from the American Oil Chemists Society (I am not sure if it is wise to mention the name). This graph was to remind me of our future plans to have a drinking contest on how much "sustainability" word we can

Ajinomoto, Toray on Biobased Nylon

2012-02-15T23:55:00.000-05:00

Just had my first school exam for the semester tonight so hopefully my lack of blog posting this week was justified. I saw this news on Wednesday morning about Ajinomoto partnering with Toray on the development of nylon raw material 1,5 pentanediamine (1,5 PD) using plant-based amino acid lysine via Ajinomoto's fermentation technology. More on this post...

ACC to launch Biobased Chemistry Network

2012-02-10T17:03:00.001-05:00

Here is a very short notice from the American Chemistry Council on their plans to launch a Biobased Chemistry Network. There was no press release on this and the blog just stumbled on this information at ACC's Smart Brief site. All the blog can comment is, it's about time the trade group recognizes this growing sector. Make sure to attend the webinar! ----------------------------- Biobased

Bankrupt CHOREN sells tech to Linde

2012-02-10T16:14:00.000-05:00

Germany-based gas producer Linde via its engineering business Linde Engineering Dresden has acquired the Carbo-V technology of the insolvent biofuel producer CHOREN (insolvent means bankrupt by the way). The Carbo-V technology is a multi-stage biomass gasification process, which was CHOREN's main asset. Linde said it will offer the technology as licensor and also as an engineering and

Scottish biobutanol producer launched

2012-02-10T15:20:00.000-05:00

The blog previously posted in August 2010 about these researchers from the Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland who have have developed biobutanol using whisky byproducts for feedstock. It turns out that a few a weeks ago, these researchers launched a new company called Celtic Renewables to commercialize their biobutanol process for biofuel application after receiving government funding at

Biofuel News Roundup

2012-02-10T00:22:00.000-05:00

So many biofuel news that came out last week... Novozymes' seaweed-to-biofuel R&D Novozymes is collaborating with India-based Sea6 Energy to develop a process for the production of biofuels from seaweed. The research alliance will use enzymes to convert seaweed-based carbohydrates to sugar, which can then be fermented to produce ethanol, fine chemicals, proteins and fertilizers. Novozymes will

Weekly News Roundup

2012-02-09T23:25:00.000-05:00

I'm starting to prepare my bioplastic presentation for BIOPLASTEK 2012 on March 30 as well as studying for my first school exam this semester so bear with my empty blog this past few days. On February 20, I'm also attending Jim Lunt's pre-conference seminar on NatureWorks' Innovation Takes Roots annual event in Orlando, so hopefully, I'll be getting a lot of bioplastic information to share (and

Chemicals from cashew nut shell

2012-02-02T16:26:00.000-05:00

Who knew you can use liquid extracted from cashew nut shell and use it for chemical feedstock? The blog received this news from BioBased Technologies (a US biobased polyol producer) about their partnership with Palmer International, a US company working with Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) for over 50 years. The firms is developing a new bio-based polyols from CNSL in rigid foam systems. The

UPM builds tall oil-based biorefinery

2012-02-02T13:07:00.000-05:00

Tall oil is another industry that the blogger started covering 11 years ago but unfortunately, has not been up-to-date with this market since 2009. If you want to know more about tall oil, I suggest contacting TAPPI, a big association for global pulp, paper, packaging and converting industries or the Pine Chemicals Association, which also has members from all over the world. Most of the

Gevo, Butamax patent saga continues

2012-02-01T13:41:00.000-05:00

There are not really a lot of bio-isobutanol producers out there -- the blog counts three right now and two of them are at each other's throats when it comes to patents. Last month (I can't believe it's February already!), Gevo announced that it has received another patent (8,101,808) from the USPTO covering the company's separation technology used to produce propanols, butanols, pentanols, and

Showa Denko picks Myriant for succinic

2012-01-30T13:42:00.000-05:00

This news came out last week but I was waiting to tie this with my bio-succinic acid article that was just published today on ICIS Chemical Business. According to Myriant's press release, the company has been chosen by Japanese chemical firm Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) to be its global supplier of bio-succinic acid. SDK will use biosuccinic acid for the production of high-performance biodegradable

Bioplastic News Roundups

2012-01-30T00:32:00.001-05:00

As I've said before this post, too much news clogging my draft box and it's just the first month of the year. By the way, I will start working on a bioplastic article for ICIS Chemical Business' green chemicals issue. I just wondered what particular topic readers would like to read about bioplastics. Let me know! Cereplast new hybrid resins Cereplast launched its next generation Hybrid Resins,

Biofuel News Roundup

2012-01-29T22:55:00.000-05:00

Too much news piling my draft box.... US Biodiesel breaks 1bn gal mark The US biodiesel industry reached a key milestone by producing more than 1bn gallons of fuel in 2011, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Last year, 1.1bn gallons were produced exceeding the 800m gallon-target required under the EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard. Previous record production was 690m gallons in

Semi-Monthly News Roundup

2012-01-29T21:09:00.000-05:00

The blog will still try to do a weekly news roundup but for now here are some of the news that came out the past two weeks: Genomatica licenses PROESA Genomatica has obtained exclusive worldwide rights to the PROESA process from Beta Renewables for butanediol (BDO) production from biomass through any fermentation-based process. The companies plan to produce biomass-based BDO at

Renewables funding going strong

2012-01-27T18:12:00.000-05:00

It looks like a good start for 2012 with several companies closing some good funding this month. New Zealand-based LanzaTech announced this week that it has bagged a total of US $55.8m in its series C round of financing led by the Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund. New investors include PETRONAS Technology Ventures Sdn Bhd and Dialog Group. Existing investors such as Khosla Ventures, Qiming

In Memoriam: Arthur R. Kavaler

2012-01-26T22:06:00.000-05:00

Last week, the staff of ICIS Chemical Business received news of the death of Arthur R. Kavaler, former editor-in-chief and publisher of Chemical Market Reporter (1972-1990). ICB's current editor-in-chief Joseph Chang has written this tribute (below), which will be published next week. I did not have the privilege of working under Mr. Kavaler when I started at CMR in 2000 but during my stint in

Bio-polyamide developments on the rise

2012-01-26T18:40:00.000-05:00

The nylon market will soon see more biobased polyamides developments with this recent partnership announcement between France-based Rhodia and the Netherlands-based Avantium. Rhodia, like its polyamide competitor France-based Arkema, has been developing biopolyamides for as long as the blog can remember. Rhodia is also now a newly acquired business of Belgium-based Solvay and if readers remember

DSM partners with POET on ethanol

2012-01-25T15:00:00.000-05:00

Is it just the blog's imagination or are there seem to be more and more chemical companies venturing into advanced ethanol production, the recent one being DSM? Let's see our list here: DuPont Cellulosic Ethanol - No need to introduce DuPont in this case. The company's cellulosic ethanol business is planning to build a 27.5m gal/year cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa, which is expected to

Bio-butanol merger

2012-01-20T16:05:00.000-05:00

It does seems like more and more M&A's and buyouts are emerging in the renewable chemicals sector. Eastman bought bio-butanol developer TetraVitae Bioscience, Amyris bought Draths, PTT Global Chemical bought 50% of NatureWorks, and now bio-butanol developers Green Biologics (based in the UK) and butylfuel (based in the US) decided to merge their companies which will operate under the Green

Genomatica, Novamont 1st BDO plant

2012-01-20T13:08:00.000-05:00

So many news coming out today! We'll start with this plant announcement from US bio-butanediol (BDO) developer Genomatica and Italian bioplastic company Novamont (although this news has already leaked out a couple of days ago). The companies announced last year its joint venture plans for commercially producing bio-BDO in Europe using Genomatica's technology but today, they have disclosed more

Glycerin glimpse in REG's IPO

2012-01-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

Do you know why the blog is interested in this $100m initial public offering (IPO) by America's largest biodiesel producer Renewable Energy Group (REG)? Because aside from biodiesel, REG is also a major producer of crude glycerin, the chemical by-product of biodiesel manufacturing (10:1 ratio meaning a 10 lb biodiesel will yield 1 pound crude glycerin). Crude glycerine is usually used in the

Bio-methionine developments

2012-01-18T16:20:00.000-05:00

France-based METabolic EXplorer (METEX) and Roquette announced last week that the companies are now initiating an industrial engineering study on the production of a 100% bio-based L-Methionine, which the companies have been developing for several years. Methionine is an essential amino acid mainly used in animal feeds. According to METEX, the amino acid is currently made from propylene via a

Penford, Novomer in starch PP

2012-01-18T13:50:00.000-05:00

This news has been out for days now but Penford and Novomer just released its formal announcement today on their partnership to develop and commercialize packaging materials made from the combination of starch and poplypropylene carbonate thermoplastic polymer (which is composed of nearly 50% by weight waste carbon dioxide developed by Novomer. The companies said the starch-PPC composites will

Metabolix, ADM cut bioplastic ties

2012-01-13T02:11:00.000-05:00

I guess when US agribusiness major Archer Daniels Midland wants to cut costs, they really mean cutting costs and that include 1000 job layoffs (3% of the company's workforce) and dissolving its bioplastic joint venture Telles LLC with Metabolix as the JV's capital costs were more than anticipated, commercialization of Telles' bioplastic product took longer than expected, and projected