The factories of old — a technological wave that swept in with the Industrial Revolution — these were inorganic manufacturing centers, and they are now the wave of the past. They used a suite of lifeless fossil ingredients and mechanical, lifeless manufacturing techniques. They might have been made fast through computers, sensors and robotics, but […]
From Italy word has arrived that Novamont have opened the world’s first commercial-scale facility for the bio-based production of bio-based 1,4-butanediol, in Bottrighe (Adria), North East Italy. Having licensed Genomatica’s technology, the Novamont Mater-Biotech plant will produce 30,000 tons of BDO per year from renewable sugars. First off, let’s note that the capacity is 70% […]
In Washington, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Texas-based Mard, Inc., formerly known as KiOR, Inc., and its former CEO and President Fred Cannon for “failing to disclose important assumptions about the yield that KiOR had claimed to have achieved through the company’s proprietary process of converting wood and other biomass into crude […]
In Brussels, EuropaBio released a report concluding that Industrial Biotech contributes over €30 billion to the EU economy and around 500 000 jobs. The new study was launched in the European Parliament as part of a series of activities across Europe celebrating European Biotech Week. The Report’s employment data The report found that the core […]
You may recall that The Bloomberg investigative team of Ben Elgin & Peter Waldman in 2013 published an expose on Chevron claiming that the company had developed — then buried — a Catchlight Energy project that could profitably make renewable gasoline at $2.18 per gallon? Originally the venture was intended to build 17 plants by […]
In Germany, Lanxess will acquire the US-based speciality chemical maker Chemtura, one of the major global providers of high-quality flame retardant and lubricant additives, for $2.69B, a 18.9% premium to the stock’s current share price. The transaction will be financed by LANXESS mainly through senior and hybrid bonds, as well as from existing liquidity. The […]
They called it Mission Impossible. Create a means to biodegrade any plastic out there that needs to decompose in the environment after use. Find little microbes that can break the material into something that ordinary microbes found widely in the environment can use. After all, soil microbes would love to eat plastic if they could. […]
The most important technological advance in biodiesel in recent years has reached commercial-scale in Eastern Nebraska, with the startup of the Duonix Beatrice biodiesel plant, which is and the first commercial-scale application of Benefuel’s innovative ENSEL technology. ENSEL technology is capable of converting a range of lower cost feedstocks such as recycled cooking oil and […]
Recently, we held a popular webinar on Renewables and the Advanced Bioeconomy with NEXANT principal Ron Cascone, for which you can see the slides here. During the webinar, we received a number of excellent questions, some of which we did not have time to get to — all of which are worth looking at. Ron Cascone […]
Late last week, the extended courtship between Bayer and Monsanto, which saw the dowry offer raised four times by Bayer, resulted in a $127.50 per share all-cash offer for Monsanto, which Monsanto’s board accepted. A whopping $66 billion in all — one of the largest all-cash acquisitions, ever. Reactions to the deal fall into three […]
