17 March 202211 March 2022 Doppelgänger creates polystyrene substitute from plastic-eating mealworms The material, called Chitofoam, is shock-absorbent, water-resistant and can be formed into cups, foam peanuts and other packaging, much like its fossil-based counterpart
16 March 202210 March 2022 Drugstore chain dm uses clothes hangers made from grass ALANA and PUSBLU children's textiles have been made of the grass fibre-based bioplastic AgriPlast from the company Biowert Industrie GmbH in Odenwald, Germany
Houston biotech startup will use microbes to make hydrogen from oil The technology would extend the life of the low-value wells and create a new revenue stream from so-called “gold hydrogen,” which is produced biologically and emissions-free underground
PURA Plans To Disrupt $200 Billion Steel Rebar Market With Hemp Alternative In Addition To Disrupting $600 Billion Lumber Market Company is constructing a facility in Farmersville, Texas where they will conduct consultative education for each corporate customer to how hemp can be utilized to improve the efficiency of existing products
A radical, carbon negative project in Turkey is turning algae into bio-jet fuel The country is hoping to use both microalgae and macroalgae to produce a variety of products including fuel, food supplements and fertilisers at its new biorefinery
How an Indian company is transforming palm leaves into tableware Bollant Industries purchase fallen areca leaves collected by farmers around Karnataka, India, and acquires used paper from local paper mills to transform the leaves into cutlery and tableware and into colorful plates
Alte Handwerkskunst neu gedacht: Franz Fertig entwickelt Vollholz-Verbinder für die industrielle Möbelproduktion Ziel: Komplett metallfreie Holzgestelle für Funktionsmöbel – nachhaltig, recyclingfreundlich, leicht und reversibel zu montieren
Low-tech and its benefits for sustainability Many proponents of sustainability adhere to the idea that the main path to sustainability lies in high-tech solutions. Like electric cars instead of the old ones, that guzzle fossil fuels. We even wrote a book on this ‘green growth’. But we also need to look at low-tech and its opportunities
15 March 202210 March 2022 Australian surf brand Piping Hot partners with climate scientists at the University of Technology Sydney to develop textile made from seaweed The new, biobased solution will sequester carbon from the ocean and reduce the environmental impact of synthetic fibres
Lenzing successfully opens world’s largest lyocell plant in Thailand New production unit will help to even better meet the increasing customer demand for TENCEL™ branded lyocell fibers
Danish biotech company to create more sustainable shipping Cysbio may have broken the code on how to eliminate copper in ship’s paint. The copper is replaced with sustainable and biodegradable eelgrass acid
Driving up renewable fuel technology Sulzer Chemtech will provide a BioFlux® technology package to support the creation of the Sabah Maju Jaya Renewable Energy Industrial Complex (SMJREIC) in Malaysia
14 March 20229 March 2022 Sulzer’s bio-plastic technology selected for Yangzhou Huitong Biological New Material’s plant Company was interesting for its proven track record as market leader, delivering scalable production solutions with both improved efficiency and quality for the production of PLA
EU lawmakers to accelerate adoption of circular economy package To encourage stakeholders to move in this direction, the Commission will present several legislative proposals, including the so-called Circular Economy package due on 30 March
Woodly® Material Used in St1’s New Heat-Sealed Bags for Sandwiches St1’s HelmiSimpukka, in collaboration with Woodly and Amerplast, launches the Woodly® heat-sealed take away bag
11 March 20228 March 2022 New, nature-inspired concepts for turning CO2 into clean fuels Some Cambridge researchers, working with a team from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Portugal, have developed a method to improve the efficiency of electrolysis by fine-tuning the solution conditions to alter the local environment of the enzymes
Bio-based Engineering Plastic with Excellent Design and Durability “DURABIO™” Adopted for Use in Pilot Ballpoint Pens Your choice in stationery can help reduce CO2
LVMH Beauty joins Avantium’s PEFerence consortium to develop sustainable packaging for Perfumes and Cosmetics LVMH Beauty will be the first luxury cosmetic company to join the PEFerence consortium, further enabling the commercial introduction of PEF to the Cosmetics market
The Woodly W200 Series – Combining Bioplastics, Durability, and Efficiency Whether it be containers for storage use, plastic cups, other similar objects/items, cosmetic cases, high-design specification packaging – these bioplastic products can all be done with sustainability in mind
Spain: New study confirms that compostable plastics biodegrade Evaluation results showed that unlike conventional plastics, no compostable plastic (certified EN13432) could be found in the final compost samples
10 March 20227 March 2022 Scientists use “green” solvent and natural pigment to produce bioplastic The process is sustainable and is described by researchers at universities in Brazil and Portugal in the journal Green Chemistry
Stora Enso and Picadeli join forces to reduce single-use plastic in salad packaging New lids for take-away packaging are made of PureFiber™ by Stora Enso, and they are plastic-free, recyclable, and biodegradable
Market introduction of PHAs PHAs are made by micro-organisms from raw materials such as sugars and vegetable oils or from various waste streams like food waste and sewage sludge, but production volumes are still limited and production costs are high
9 March 20224 March 2022 Sumo & Kelheim Fibres develop sustainable and high-performance absorbent washable diaper pad The innovative nonwoven construction with the speciality fibres from Kelheim performs significantly better in tests in terms of air permeability, liquid absorption and rewetting than commercially available solutions made of synthetic fibres or cotton in knitted structures
Fashion for Good’s latest project transforms agricultural waste into fibres The new consortium project will assess the technical feasibility of natural fibres created by selected innovators using agricultural waste such as rice husks, hemp, wheat straw, banana and pineapple
Easy aluminum nanoparticles for rapid, efficient hydrogen generation from water For years, researchers have tried to find efficient and cost-effective ways to harness the extreme reactivity of aluminum to generate clean hydrogen fuel. A new study shows that an easily produced composite of gallium and aluminum creates aluminum nanoparticles that react rapidly with water at room temperature to yield large amounts of hydrogen
Erste industrielle Produktionsstätte für Biokerosin in Deutschland bp Raffinerie in Lingen startet Produktion von nachhaltigem Flugkraftstoff aus gebrauchtem Speiseöl
Carbios to build in France its first-of-a-kind manufacturing plant for fully bio-recycled PET in partnership with Indorama Ventures With its world-first enzyme-based biological process, Carbios’ converts PET into its core monomers, which can then be used to manufacture 100% recycled and infinitely recyclable PET
Upcycling plastic waste into more valuable materials could make recycling pay for itself Researchers at the Centre for Sustainable and Circular Technologies have developed a new and simple method for upcycling plastic waste at room temperature
8 March 20228 March 2022 PHAs: Tenfold increase in production capacity in sight in just six years Market report “Mimicking Nature – The PHA Industry Landscape. Latest trends and 28 producer profiles” published
Biofuel Associations: DUH Denies the Positive Climate Record of Sustainable Biofuels Solar power cannot make the existing vehicle fleet climate-friendly
7 March 20222 March 2022 A new, sustainable way to make hydrogen for fuel cells and fertilizers “We have achieved what has eluded scientists for decades”
EU-initiated impact fund oversubscribed with € 300 million Growth capital for sustainable transformation to a bio-based circular economy
Human Plant Solutions Makes New Strides in Prosthetics Using Hemp Fiber Co-founders Sam Spallitta and Kyle Trivisonno developed a patent-pending hemp material that is improving lives of prosthetic wearers while offering a safer and more sustainable alternative for prosthetic manufacturing
Neste reports strong Q4 for renewable products Neste released fourth quarter financial results on Feb. 10, reporting that the company’s renewable products business segment achieved improve sales volumes and sales margins despite several scheduled shutdowns, a weaker U.S. dollar and higher fixed costs
4 March 20221 March 2022 Biopolymer specialist works with NIAB to tackle plastic pollution The first innovation to be delivered from the new Teysha laboratory will be a series of new polyester composite materials
PHA Sample Shop Now Open New sample shop initially offers samples of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and polyhydroxybutyrate co-valerate (PHBV) up to 5 kilograms for academic and non-commercial purposes
Versalis: the production of bioethanol up and running at Crescentino Versalis, Eni's chemical company, announces that it has begun the production of bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass at Crescentino (Vercelli).
3 March 20223 March 2022 Guest commentary: Let’s foster bioeconomy, not war! A personal comment by chemist Ruben Richrath
Synthos to build a commercial bio-butadiene plant It has been a long time coming for the commercialization of bio-based butadiene (at least for this one where you can count the percentage renewable content unlike some of the mass balance approaches)
A hydrogen strategy for a balanced EU-Africa partnership The EU must work with Africa to develop hydrogen as part of a broader economic and development cooperation agenda moving beyond resource production and extraction, writes Eleonora Moro
PepsiCo explores use of recycled UBQ materials in pallets PepsiCo Inc.'s Latin America operation is exploring the potential for pallets made with UBQ, a material made from unsorted household waste, that could soon replace the conventional pallets currently in use
2 March 20222 March 2022 Life Cycle Assessment study demonstrates the potential of Avantium’s FDCA and PEF technology to curb global warming Use of renewable feedstock in PEF results in clear reductions in GHG emissions throughout the entire life cycle
Design of Pilot Plant for MMA Monomers Using Plant-Derived Materials Has Begun Plant Signifies Major Progress Toward Full-Scale Development of “Sustainable MMA”
1 March 20221 March 2022 nova Session: The Future of Refineries & Big Chemical Production Sites Nine experts present and discuss their scenarios for the future of the chemical industry, hybrid session at 31 March 2022, Wöllhaf Conference Center Airport Cologne/Bonn
Biesterfeld Plastic: distribution of new DuPont™ Delrin® Renewable Attributed grades The base polymer of Delrin® Renewable Attributed is produced from 100% bio-feedstock from waste, according to ISCC Plus mass balance certification
Lotte to develop seawater-degradable PHA-material Lotte Chemical aims to complete the development of petrochemical-based PHA production technology and commercialize it by 2023
Sustainable reinforcement of e-bike battery cases Ansmann AG and Fraunhofer LBF to develop a natural fibre reinforced plastic composite for use in e-bike battery cases
EU aims to make Africa a world champion in hydrogen exports Europe wants to get out of fossil fuels and build a hydrogen economy. Without enough internal supplies, it is looking to import large quantities of hydrogen from countries in the Global South