In Switzerland, Avalon Industries has launched a research project to replace formaldehyde in phenol-formaldehyde resins with a bio-based, non-toxic platform chemical 5-HMF, The R&D partner is the Institute for Materials and Wood Technology at the Bern University of Applied Sciences. The research project, ‘Development of a formaldehyde-free phenol type adhesive system for the manufacturing of […]
In Germany, a research team led by Professor Almut Arneth at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology concluded that “CO2 emissions caused by changes of land use may possibly be higher than assumed so far.” The work presented in Nature Geoscience for the first time considers processes, such as slash-and–burn agriculture or different ways of managing […]
In Europe, the European Forest Institute will lead a newly established project to develop a sustainability assessment method which allows comparison and benchmarking between different renewable, mineral and non-renewable materials used in house construction. The EFI noted that “renewable wood-based materials can help to reduce GHG emissions in the construction sector and thus support the […]
In Germany, UFOP reports that “the latest import figures for oilseeds and byproducts do not confirm the estimates for the running marketing year.” Although the EU-28 2016 oilseed harvest and, consequently, supplies were down approximately 1 million tonnes, imports are developing contrary to what market experts predicted, according to the German trade group. Forecasts were for […]
In Germany, Clariant, Mercedes-Benz and Haltermann Carless found that “sunliquid 20 exhibited very good combustion properties with a high degree of efficiency and identical consumption compared to today’s standard E10 fuel,” according to the consortium. Due to the slightly lower energy density of E20 compared to E10, slightly higher fuel consumption was expected under the […]
In Sweden, an expert panel convened by Taurus Energy has concluded that “the process utilizing the modified strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae XyloFerm strain Taurus13 produces DG grains with nutrient profiles comparable to DG described in the peer-reviewed literature,” the company said. The Panel further concluded that, in those instances where the DG generated using the […]
In Minnesota, Syngenta has made a donation of $340,000 to the Prime the Pump Fund to help make higher ethanol blends more widely available and help grow demand for American ethanol. Prime the Pump is an ethanol industry initiative created to help the early retail adopters of high-level ethanol blends by awarding grants to reduce […]
In Germany, a new report from nova institut finds that more than 45% of the most relevant bio-based polymers are produced in Asia. A global capacity of 2.4 million tonnes bio-based polymers was established in 2016, and worldwide capacity is expected to reach 3.6 million tonnes in 2021, the report concluded. Nearly 52% of this […]
In Finland, UPM Biofuels has joined the Made by Finland campaign that forms a key part of Finland’s centenary celebrations. The campaign calls for all Finns to discuss their own work and to share their stories of Finnish work. The campaign will be launched with an emotional campaign film directed by Klaus Härö. The campaign […]
Donald Rumsfeld said it best: There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks […]
