Foreword
Within these pages, we have a soft spot for novel
processes and products that see the bioeconomy spread into sectors and
applications it hasn’t before. This month we feature several “firsts”,
including the first racing car to feature biobased plastic parts, but perhaps
most interesting this month has been research in the US, which has produced a
3D printing feedstock including lignin. Lignin is the bane of many a bioeconomy
processes, being the highly robust protein that links cellulose fibres in
lignocellulosic biomass. Though ways to extract it have been developed, finding
uses for it (in order to maximise the resource efficiency of lignocellulosic
biorefining) is more difficult. Researchers have found that by combining lignin
with nylon, the lignin doesn’t char during the 3D-printing process, and retains
its durability. This offers a potentially lucrative market for........
Other News this Month Includes:
Policy
- Italy bans non-compostable cotton buds
- Identifying barriers to investment in Canadian biobased products
Markets
- Funding for company behind biological dyeing process
- Study finds consumers will pay premium for better supply chain knowledge
- Itaconix to exclusively supply biobased polymers to Nouryon
- DuPont begins construction of new European headquarters
Research & Development
- Utilising lignin for 3D printing
- Solving Delhi's air quality by producing biobased products
- Review of metabolic production of biobased chemicals
- FDCA production without humic by-product
Polymers
- BASF producing materials from chemically-recycled plastics
- Factory to produce isosorbide for South Korea's first biobased plastic
- SABIC and PLASTIC ENERGY to refine low-quality plastic into oil feedstock
Chemicals
- Biobased flow modifier Betafib sees first commercial applications
- Isoprene from waste bioethanol
- Novel process to produce heterocycles with a biobased solvent
- Novel pathway produces isoprenoids without metabolism
- Genomatica announces first shipping of biobased butylene glycol
Consumer Products
- Porsche unveils first racing car to be made with biobased materials
- Guardian newspaper switches to biobased wrapping
- First garment from Nanollose's biobased fibres
- Samsung to pursue sustainable packaging
Patents
Events
Price Information