Kemira plans to expand its Helsingborg manufacturing site in Sweden and to invest low double-digit millions of euros in building a reactivation plant for activated carbon. The new plant would add significant new capacity to reactivate activated carbon for the Nordic drinking water and wastewater market. The expansion project plans are a part of Kemira’s long-term strategy to double its water treatment business. The pre-engineering phase of the project is currently ongoing. The new plant is expected to be operational in the second half of 2027 subject to the final investment decision and environmental permits. Kemira also recently acquired Norit’s UK reactivation businessPurton Carbons Limited.
Bionto provides industrial R&D and manufacturing services covering the entire bioproduct development process from ideas to end products, or parts of it according to the customer's needs. Bionto's core competence lies in understanding how to anchor a hypersecreting filamentous fungus, Trichoderma reesei, for commercial biotechnology purposes. The Bionto team has more than 20 years of industrial experience in biosolutions and a track record of developing biological products to the mass-market under several brands.
Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, Chief Technology Officer at Solar Foods, has been appointed as the new chairperson of IBC Finland. The announcement was made during the network's Autumn General Meeting on November 14, 2025.
Pitkänen succeeds Veli-Matti Vuorenpalo, Manager, Global Processes and Projects for R&D at Kemira, who has led the network with dedication and vision. IBC Finland extended its heartfelt gratitude to Veli-Matti for his tireless effort in advancing industrial biotechnology initiatives and strengthening the network's influence.
The meeting also featured a keynote presentation by Ulla Palander, Senior Advisor at the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Palander provided insights into the Ministry’s bioeconomy and biotechnology strategies, including Finland's advocacy within the EU and the anticipated EU Biotech Act. The proposed act aims to enhance market access and create opportunities for innovative biotechnology solutions. For more information, please contact Ulla Palander at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
IBC Finland,
Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, Chairperson
Eero Kiljunen, Scientific Officer
Aila Maijanen, Executive Officer
Finnish food technology startup Happy Plant Protein, a spinout from VTT, has raised EUR 1.8 million in pre-seed funding led by Nordic Foodtech VC, with Butterfly Ventures and Business Finland also participating through a grant. The company will use the funding to further develop and license its patented technology.
Mirka is investing 25 million euros in a new production line in Jakobstad, Finland. The manufacturing line supports the green transition and is based on technology that could transform the entire abrasives industry in the coming years.
Business Finland has granted a total of 10 million euros in R&D funding to two Finnish projects for international research collaboration in the bioeconomy sector. The projects have been accepted into the Global Centers research program, led by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by six countries, with the goal of achieving breakthrough solutions to global challenges.
This year, the program's funding call focused on the bioeconomy, with the main themes being biofoundries and biodiversity. The FinBioFab and FoodID projects are coordinated by VTT.
A new co-research project within the SPIRIT programme was launched in September 2024 with the aim to explore a new kind of value chain. This value chain will integrate biological processes in a unique way to produce renewable chemicals from renewable raw materials – to be utilized by a variety of industries. Professors Marika Kokko from Tampere University (TAU) and Janne Jänis from University of Eastern Finland (UEF) are working in this groundbreaking collaboration together with Borealis and many other actors.
The project preparation has been supported by IBC Finland.
As part of their strategic cooperation in providing new renewable alternatives to fossil-based products, Kemira and IFF announced the successful completion of a market-entry scale industrial polymer plant.
Onego Bio has been awarded €1.8M ($2M) in funding from the United States Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program (DBIMP). The funding from this program supports the advancement of biomanufacturing infrastructure across the United States, strengthening the domestic supply of key materials and ingredients.
Solar Foods Oyj has listed its shares on Nasdaq First North Growth Market Finland. Trading in the company’s shares commenced on Tuesday 10 September at 10 EEST under the ticker symbol SFOODS. The purpose of the listing of Solar Foods is to enable the company to grow its business to a global scale.
On 31 August 2024, Enzymes Leasing Finland Oy (2185079-2) and AB Enzymes Oy (1095754-3), which are 100% owned by Assosiated British Foods, have merged with Roal Oy (0861194-9) in a so-called sister company merger.
On 1 September 2024 Roal Oy has changed its name to AB Enzymes Finland Oy (in English AB Enzymes Finland Ltd). Roal will remain an auxiliary name of AB Enzymes Finland Oy.
Onego Bio has secured €14M new funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Program and additional Series A investors. In 2024 Onego Bio has successfully raised altogether €50.5M.
Orion is participating in a project led by the University of Turku for which Business Finland recently granted 11.7M€ funding. The project seeks to enhance advanced pharmaceutical and life science manufacturing in Finland.
Brightplus announces the launch of BrightBio®, a groundbreaking material set to revolutionize the landscape of eco-friendly textile products. This innovative material offers exceptional performance while significantly reducing environmental impact, aligning with Brightplus’s commitment to a sustainable future.
In February, Valio announced that it has been selected by Business Finland as a leading company to start the Food 2.0 project, which is an ongoing effort to develop the food system of the future and promote the competitiveness of food exports. Veera Virtanen has been appointed Ecosystem Lead of the partner ecosystem within the project. Around 50 business and community partners have already joined the ecosystem, and the goal is at least one hundred partners.
A study published in the scientific journal Advanced Materials on 6 May 2024, led by VTT’s researchers, introduces a transformative approach that integrates synthetic biology with advanced machine learning and computational techniques to significantly accelerate the development of new biomaterials. This method reduces the material development timeline from years to mere minutes, promising rapid advancements in medical and industrial applications.
Finnish mycoprotein company Enifer has announced the completion of a funding package that enables it to start constructing a unique food-grade mycoprotein factory in Kirkkonummi, Finland. The factory, which is set for completion by the end of 2025, will convert food industry side streams into Enifer’s sustainable PEKILO® fungi-based protein ingredients. The plant will be the world’s first commercial plant to produce such a mycoprotein ingredient from sidestream raw materials.
Business Finland recently granted €11.7M funding to the LifeFactFuture -project led by the University of Turku, which seeks to enhance advanced pharmaceutical and life science manufacturing in Finland.
Synbio Powerlabs Oy and Ivy Farm Technologies Ltd., the UK’s leading cultivated meat company, have announced a scale-up and manufacturing partnership aimed at pioneering the use of mammalian cells in large food-grade fermenters at the new Synbio Powerlabs hub in Lappeenranta.
Unveiled at the World Circular Economy Forum 2024 in Brussels, a list of top 30 European companies tackling biodiversity loss features several Finnish companies in the field of industrial biotechnology, including Volare Oy, Origin by Ocean, Chempolis Oy and Boreal Bioproducts.
Nordic Bioproducts Group announces the opening of its commercial-scale production facility for microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and other cellulose derivatives in Lappeenranta, Finland. This first-of-its-kind facility represents a leap in manufacturing, enabling continuous and sustainable production at scale.
Factory 01, Solar Foods’ first commercial-scale production facility of Solein®, starts production in Vantaa, Finland. It marks the beginning of the commercialisation of the novel protein and showcases what the future of food production could look like.
The Circular Materials Bioeconomy Network (CIMANET) was funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture with 17 M€, offering 67 doctoral researcher positions across nine Finnish universities.
Onego Bio has completed their €36.5 million Series A funding round to drive commercialization and manufacturing of egg protein via precision fermentation.
Finland, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Spain and Sweden have prepared a non-paper on bioeconomy that was published on 16 February 2024. The paper highlights how bio-based solutions and biotechnologies will drive the circular bioeconomy by boosting EU competitiveness, create jobs and enhance resilience.
The Nordic Investment Bank and Kemira Oyj have signed a loan agreement totalling EUR 50 million to finance Kemira’s research and development investments during 2023-2026 in Espoo, Finland.
Valio is launching an extensive research, development and innovation project called Food 2.0 with Business Finland's funding. Its goal is to create a Finnish nature-smart food system in which growth, profitability and added value are built on the basis of sustainable production.
Biotechnology, advanced materials, and green chemistry as sustainable alternatives are listed as some of the key technology trends in the new VTT report.
Marubeni Corporation and Nordic Bioproducts Group Oy announce the signing of a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding aimed at fostering a long-term collaboration on the sustainable utilization of biomass, particularly woody biomass, to reduce dependence on fossil-based resources toward a more sustainable future.
Skretting, a global leader in aquafeed solutions, and Volare, a Finnish insect ingredient producer, have agreed on a commercial collaboration where Skretting has secured a substantial capacity in Volare's forthcoming industrial factory in Finland for their Norwegian salmon feeds.
The Finnish biotech startup is gearing up the production of its proprietary PEKILO® mycoprotein. Once fully running, the new factory will have a production capacity of around 3 million kilograms a year – equal to the amount of protein from 30,000 cows but with at least 20 times lower carbon emissions.
With €2.4M secured funding, Finnish start-up Aircohol is working to decarbonise the alcohol industry by producing drinks from carbon dioxide released during alcohol fermentation.
The SGen Oat Protein developed by Fazer is a plant-based protein that can be used as a versatile protein supplement in the food industry.
Onego Bio, a food-biotech spin-off from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, uses precision fermentation to produce egg protein without chickens.
The Aalto-Helsinki team wins gold at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition in November. Their project focuses on possibilities to transform plastic waste into valuable proteins.
Solar Foods has successfully concluded its debut funding round, raising eight million euros from retail investors in Finland.
KÄÄPÄ Biotech has successfully raised €2.5M and taken a €1M loan to scale production to meet the increasing demand for medicinal mushroom extracts.
Origin by Ocean has successfully launched an industrial pilot in Oulu, marking a significant step towards scaling up an innovative process for converting harmful algae and sustainably farmed seaweed into valuable bio-based products.
Montinutra has raised €2M in pre-A funding led by Metsä Spring, a corporate venture unit of Metsä Group, with a syndicate of private investors.
With the funding, Montinutra will accelerate its internationalization, advance the designing of the industrial demo production plant, and bring new products to market under its Boreal Bioproducts® brand. The company aims to reach 100 million euros in annual revenue by 2035, with the demo plant up and running by 2026.
In an unassuming location in Vantaa, Finland, a groundbreaking facility is getting ready to transform how we think of food production. Take a sneak peek behind the curtain of the Solar Foods Facory 01.
Kalevala Koru continues launching sustainable design innovations with its all-new ‘Nolla’ jewelry series, which is made with biomaterial provided by Brightplus. The companies have embarked on this journey of collaboration with the mindset of uniting Finnish iconic design and Finnish material science know-how.
One of the biggest challenges facing the bioeconomy is changing the current flows of production. The transition towards fossil-free and sustainable production requires a full reorganisation of production methods and material side-streams so that unused waste can be recycled.
This is the ambitious goal of a new co-creation project and an upcoming co-innovation project prepared by Tampere University and supported by IBC Finland.
Welcome to the 1st workshop of VTT’s new research investment program Multi-material recycling platform on Thursday 23.3.23 at 14:00-16:00.
The target of this investment program is to develop solutions for the global polymer waste challenge by investing in state-of-the-art pilot scale recycling infrastructure and know-how for difficult to recycle plastic containing multi-materials. The materials can be plastics, textiles or composites.
Investment needs will be evaluated and prioritized through industrial collaboration and co-creation starting with the first workshop on 23.3.2023 at 14:00-16:00. The event will be organized through Microsoft Teams. You are warmly welcome to join the workshop and discuss about your views, ideas and needs. Your input will be highly valuable to the development of the program.
Rapid economic growth, urbanization and excessive material usage pose a significant threat of an increasing manufacturing footprint. Despite this, Mirka sees an opportunity to develop new innovative solutions to support the green transition in cooperation with the Finnish industry. The aim is to create a cross-industrial ecosystem to develop solutions for the remanufacturing and construction industries, contributing to a net carbon negative impact. Business Finland has granted 10 million euros in development funding for the Mirka SHAPE project in the challenge competition as well as 20 million euros to the ecosystem companies surrounding the project. This is a unique project and first of its kind in Finland.
Read more on Mirka web site
HELSINKI, FINLAND, December 27, 2022 - Synbio Powerlabs Oy ("Synbio Powerlabs" or the "Company"), a leading Biotech company catalyzing the DNA-Economy by enabling the development of disruptive biotechnologies with precision fermentation, from lab-scale experiments to large scale pilot runs, is pleased to announce it has secured 6.6 million euro funding for a unique biotechnology pilot plant for precision fermentation.
The Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy organization Business Finland (“Business Finland”) has granted €2.99 million in funding to Synbio Powerlabs for a pilot project specializing in precision fermentation and biotechnology. The state-of-the-art facility is part of a broad collaborative project to promote the next generation circular bioeconomy through biotechnology. To be built in Hämeenlinna, Southern Finland, it will enable companies and researchers to upscale biotechnology innovations to pre-commercial scale.
Read more on Synbio Powerlabs web site
Ductor has an ambitious aim to create solutions that would help solve today’s environmental challenges in the energy and agricultural sector.
Today we build, own, and operate turnkey facilities, turning waste from the agricultural sector into sustainable fertilizers and biogas.
The core of Ductor is our microbial population turning high nitrogen containing substrates suitable to biogas production and nitrogen fertilizers.
Ductor is a Swiss-Finnish company operating in Europe and Americas and having 50 employees. Currently we have two plants in operation: one in Mexico and one in Germany.
Professori Heli Jantunen, emeritusprofessori Martti Koskenniemi ja tutkimusprofessori Merja Penttilä ovat uusia tieteen akateemikoita. Tasavallan presidentti Sauli Niinistö myönsi heille akateemikon arvonimen presidentin esittelyssä tänään 19.1.2023.
Lue lisää aka.fi-sivustolla
SynBio Powerhouse ecosystem, VTT, and IBC Finland organized a seminar on ChemBio 2022 event at Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre on 9 June 2022.
The title of the seminar was “Made in Microbes & Bioindustries talks” and it included presentations on new research topics using microbes for the development of new bio-based materials and circular economy processes. Also, industry members of IBC Finland, Kemira and Roal, shared their stories on sustainable functional polymers and industrial enzyme production.
The recordings of the ChemBio 2022 presentations are now available on YouTube (all presentations).
You can watch the Kemira and Roal presentations separately on YouTube as well:
Kemira perustaa uuden Growth Accelerator ‑yksikön – tiimin johtajaksi on nimitetty Sampo Lahtinen
Kemira perustaa uuden Growth Accelerator ‑yksikön, joka tukee Kemiran pitkän aikavälin kasvua valikoiduissa strategiahankkeissa. Uudella yksiköllä on kaksi päätavoitetta: uusien ja ainutlaatuisten biomateriaalien kaupallistamisen vauhdittaminen Kemiran nykyisillä markkina-alueilla ja liiketoimintamahdollisuuksien luominen uusilla markkinoilla sekä Kemiran nykyisille että uusille tuotteille.
Lue lisää kemira.com-sivustolla
VTT Has an Essential Role in EU’s Circular Bioeconomy Partnership Scientific Committee
VTT’s research professor Merja Penttilä has been appointed as a member in the Scientific Committee of EU’s new Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU). CBE JU funds circular bioeconomy projects as part of the Horizon Europe framework program.
CBE JU is a two billion euro sized public-private partnership which enables European circular bioeconomy projects in 2021-2031. It follows the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) partnership which funded in total 142 projects in years 2014-2020.
Valio and eniferBio are joining forces to create a new, future-proof product for the plant-based protein field. Originally invented in the 1970s, PEKILO® has been further developed by eniferBio and is now ready to scale.
Suomen uusi biotalousstrategia on valmistunut. Strategia tähtää biotalouden arvonlisän kaksinkertaistamiseen ekologisesti, sosiaalisesti ja taloudellisesti kestävällä tavalla ja siten, että Suomi on ilmastoneutraali vuonna 2035.
Lue lisää biotalous.fi-sivustolla
Industrial biotechnology uses living organisms and their components (e.g., enzymes and nucleic acids) to convert raw material into products and related services. Europe has put forward biotechnology as a central pillar of innovation and identified it as an advanced technology for industry. It is foreseen that industrial biotechnology will be a key enabler for the circular bioeconomy.
The cellular agriculture spin-off from VTT uses a commercially-proven Trichoderma technology to solve environmental problems associated with eggs, one of the world’s most used animal proteins.
The Finnish biotech startup Onego Bio Ltd has announced the successful closure of EUR 10 million seed round with participation from venture capital investors Agronomics Limited and Maki VC. Onego Bio’s technology, developed and researched at VTT, enables production of bioalbumen with cellular agriculture means.
Read more at vttresearch.com
Hämeen ammattikorkeakoulu on saanut yhdessä Luonnonvarakeskuksen kanssa rahoitusta Bioraaka-aineosaamisen keskuksen perustamiseen Kanta-Hämeeseen. Bioraaka-aineita saadaan esimerkiksi teollisuuden sivuvirroista tai kerrosviljelyllä, joka voi mahdollistaa eksoottisempienkin raaka-aineiden lähituotannon.
Lue lisää hamk.fi
Factory 01 will grow protein out of microbes cultured with electricity and air. CEO Pasi Vainikka likens the new wave of foodtech becoming commercial to the onset of the digital revolution.
The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) has awarded the Finnish mycoprotein start-up eniferBio a €1.2M BlueInvest Grant to advance the commercialization of their revolutionary new aquafeed protein ingredient PEKILO®. The project will bring valuable support to eniferBio’s on-going efforts in process and product development, and commercialization together with its industrial partners.
IBC Finland took part in the European Biotech Week when the event Bringing industrial biotechnology innovations into pilots was organised as part of this Europe-wide series of events. Here is a short wrap-up of the event highlights.
Participants online could enjoy intriguing presentations about new innovations for chemicals and fuels, as well as food and feed industries. Industrial biotechnology and synthetic biology play a major role in the development of green chemistry and carbon neutral processes.
Roal Oy merkittiin kaupparekisteriin 28.8.1991. 30 vuoden taipaleelle on mahtunut paljon tapahtumia, mutta kehitykseemme vaikuttavia asioita tapahtui runsaasti jo aikaisemminkin. Roal Oy:n perustamiskokous pidettiin Helsingissä 26.6.1991, jolloin silloinen Alko Oy merkitsi kaikki osakkeet. Maaliskuussa 1993 saksalainen Röhm GmbH tuli Roalin osakkaaksi 40% osuudella. Tämä järjestely lienee ollut jo mielessä yhtiötä rekisteröitäessä, sillä tuleehan nimemme näistä kumppaneista Ro (Röhm) ja al (Alko).
Roalin tiloissa Rajamäelle on vuosikymmeniä ollut sekä entsyymien tuotantoon suunniteltu biotekninen tehdas, että tutkimukseen tarkoitetut laboratoriot ja koetehdas. Koetehdas, jossa tutkimus ja tuotanto yhdistyvät, on sijainnut Bioteknisen tehtaan tiloissa. Tällä järjestelyllä on varmistettu toiminnan synergiaedut hyödykkeissä, kunnossapidossa ja osaamisessa. Tämä järjestely on ollut toimiva ratkaisu ja monia uusia tuotantokantoja ja prosessin paranuksia on tuotu tuotantoon tutkimuksesta tätä kautta.
Food company Valio and energy company St1 are establishing a joint venture to produce renewable biogas from dairy farm manure and other agricultural by-products mainly as fuel for heavy-duty transport. The company to be established is targeting up to 1,000 GWh (1 terawatt-hour) of biogas production by 2030; this amount is one third of the biogas needed for Finland’s fossil-free transport roadmap. Significant emissions reductions can be achieved by using biogas for heavy-duty transport. However, the prerequisite for creating a supply and demand that aligns with Finland’s biogas target is that the biogas-powered transport fleet becomes significantly more common in Finland.
Read more on St1 website
In the IBC Finland members’ Spring Meeting on May 19th, 2021, Sampo Lahtinen was appointed as new deputy chairperson. Outside IBC Finland, Sampo works as Vice President R&D and Technology EMEA, at Kemira.
IBC Board also appointed Aila Maijanen as Executive Officer. Aila is located at CLIC Innovation in Eteläranta 10, the host of the IBC Finland Office.
Business Finland suunnittelee uuden veturiyritysten haastekilpailun käynnistämistä kesällä 2021.
Veturiyritysten haastekilpailun tavoitteena on saada yritykset lisäämään merkittävästi tutkimus-, kehitys- ja innovaatiotoimintaansa Suomessa sekä luomaan uusia työpaikkoja ja uuteen liiketoimintaan tähtääviä miljardiluokan ekosysteemejä.
Suunnitellusta haastekilpailusta järjestetään infotilaisuus (webcast) keskiviikkona 2.6.2021 klo 14-15.30.
Lue lisää Business Finlandin sivulta
VTT, Tampereen yliopisto, Neste, Fortum, Kemira, Mirka ja Olfactomics yhdistävät voimansa kehittääkseen uusiutuvista raaka-aineista arjen muoviesineiden materiaaleja. Synteettisen biologian menetelmiä hyödyntävällä SynbioPro-hankkeella, jota Business Finland rahoittaa, on suuri merkitys suomalaiselle teollisuudelle ja pyrkimykselle irtautua fossiilisista raaka-aineista.
Lue lisää Business Finlandin sivulla
BioFinland-palkinto myönnetään vuonna 2021 suomalaiselle Mobidiag Oy:lle. Mobidiag Oy:n liiketoiminta perustuu Suomessa kehitettyyn teknologia-alustaan, jolla voidaan diagnosoida erilaisia hengitys- ja suolistotulehduksia pcr-tekniikalla. Koronapandemia aiheutti harppauksen testien kysynnässä ja Mobidiag Oy:n myynti kasvoi moninkertaiseksi. Mobidiag Oy allekirjoitti hiljattain sopimuksen yrityksen myynnistä ennätysmäiseen hintaan amerikkalaiselle terveysjätille Hologicille.
Lue lisää finbio.net-sivustolla
Four companies have collaborated to develop the first process in the world to produce compostable bioplastic from food and feed production side streams. A biopolymer plant will be built in Uusikaupunki, Finland, in which bioplastic production will be piloted on an industrial scale.
Read more at vttresearch.com
Michelin has successfully validated the use of Carbios’ enzymatic recycling technology for PET plastic waste in its tires. Carbios confirms the potential of its recycled PET to address all types of applications – from bottles to clothing fibres and now technical fibres. The validation of Carbios’ technology in Michelin’s tests, marks a new step towards 100% sustainable tires.
Read more at carbios.com
Uusiutuviin energialähteisiin perustuva vety nähdään kansainvälisesti tärkeäksi osaksi liikenteen, teollisuuden ja energiajärjestelmien tulevaisuutta. Tässä AFRYn fasilitoimassa webinaarissa tutustutaan vetytalouden kansainväliseen tilanteeseen kansainvälisten ja kotimaisten vieraspuhujien ja valtioneuvoston hiljattain käynnistämän ’Vetytalous – mahdollisuudet ja rajoitteet’ -hankkeen alkuvaiheen tulosten avulla.
Katso tallenne ja lataa esitysmateriaalit afry.com-sivustolla
The Finnish Climate Fund has decided on a 10 million euro capital loan for Solar Foods to build a new demonstration factory in Finland. The factory will be globally the first industrial scale facility to produce protein from carbon dioxide and electricity. The new factory is set to be operational early 2023.
Read more at ilmastorahasto.fi
On 15 and 16 April 2021, the Netherlands and the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra will welcome representatives of governments, international organisations, knowledge institutes, the private sector, and citizens from around the globe to our virtual conference platform, to digitally meet up and discuss the crucial role of a circular economy in achieving climate neutrality. We hope you join us too!
Read more at wcefplusclimate.com
The building and innovation investment of Kemira, Ahlström Capital, Kirkon Eläkerahasto and Aktia Life Insurance Ltd promotes growth in Espoo, Finland – Kemira’s new research center as part of the Green Chemistry Park concept.
Read more at kemira.com
Biotechnology applications garner increasing attention in 2021, with fermentation processing expected to accelerate and expand commercialisation.
Read more at foodnavigator.com
Armies of microscopic single-celled microbial food factories (yeast, bacteria, fungi, algae) are now routinely deployed to produce high-value food ingredients more efficiently than plants or animals. But next-generation ‘cell-free’ biomanufacturing processes could be even more efficient, and unlock opportunities to biosynthesize a far wider set of natural ingredients, claims San Diego based startup Debut Biotechnology.
Read more at foodnavigator-usa.com
Funded by the Finnish Research Impact Foundation, Tandem Industry Academia (TIA) intends to support joint research projects between academic and industrial partners and to promote mobility across the academia-business interface. The TIA funding model has been developed by FRIF with a view to encouraging ambitious precompetitive projects that further the aims of both leading-edge academic research and business and industry.
Read more at vaikuttavuussaatio.fi
Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring Ltd has made an equity investment in Montinutra Ltd, a startup converting forest industry side streams into high-value bioactive products. The financing round totals approximately EUR 1 million, and Metsä Spring is participating in the round with current and new private investors.
Read more at metsagroup.com.
Material innovation company Spinnova and the world’s largest wood pulp producer Suzano will make an estimated 22 million euro investment to build the first commercial scale SPINNOVA®production facility in Finland. The total investment, including all needed infrastructure such as real estate, is estimated to be some 50 million euros. Spinnova’s sustainable fibre, created out of wood and waste without the use of harmful chemicals, will be available for global textile brands in 2022.
Read more on spinnova.com.
Webinar on 9 March 2021 at 9–11.30 (UTC+2).
The webinar is organized by the Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG) as part of the MULTA project.
The MULTA project is funded by the Strategic Research Council, and it is on the Carbon Action platform. SEB provides facilities for the webinar as part of the Baltic Sea co-operation with BSAG.
More info at bsag.fi.
Bioteollisuus Forum -seminaari pidetään tänä keväänä 8.4.2021 klo 14–16 avoimena virtuaalitilaisuutena.
Seminaarin aiheena on "Luovatko uudet geenieditointimenetelmät uusia liiketoimintamahdollisuuksia?".
Ilmoittaudu 2.4.2021 mennessä.
Osallistumislinkki lähetetään sähköpostiinne lähempänä ajankohtaa.
Read more at finbio.net.
The German company BioNTech partnered with Pfizer to develop and test a coronavirus vaccine known as BNT162b2, the generic name tozinameran or the brand name Comirnaty. A clinical trial demonstrated that the vaccine has an efficacy rate of 95 percent in preventing Covid-19.
Read more at nytimes.com.
Today, the State Development Company Vake has changed into The Finnish Climate Fund with an amendment to the Articles of Association. The owner has also given the company operational guidelines and a new Board and Investment Council have been appointed for the Climate Fund. You can find news about the new Board of Directors and the Investment Council with its members here.
Read more at ilmastorahasto.fi
The two companies join forces to commercialize applications of new tailored biomaterials and biobased chemicals, based on DuPont’s breakthrough biotechnology platform. Kemira’s role in the collaboration will be to co-develop and commercialize a range of new biobased and biodegradable products across Kemira’s key product lines.
Read more at kemira.com.
VALIO, Finland’s largest global dairy cooperative company, and Royal DSM, a purpose-led, global science-based company active in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, have signed a collaboration agreement to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of dairy production in Finland.
Read more at dsm.com
Currently, MRSA is one of the fastest evolving bacteria, causing a wide range of infections from skin disease to serious endocarditis. Researchers at the University of Helsinki created a new biopolymer which kills MRSA nearly 100% upon contact, by combining nanocellulose with compounds derived from tree resin, a side stream from forest industry.
Read more at helsinki.fi.
The shift from fossil-based to renewable bio-plastics requires new efficient methods. New technology developed at VTT enables the use of pectin-containing agricultural waste, such as citrus peel and sugar beet pulp, as raw material for bio-based PEF-plastics for replacing fossil-based PET. The carbon footprint of plastic bottles can be lowered by 50% when replacing their raw material of PET with PEF polymers, which also provides a better shelf life for food.
Read more at vttresearch.com.
The Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) has commissioned guidance produced by the Institute of European Environmental Policy (IEEP) enabling the bio-based industries to better measure how bio-based projects contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
By Dave Keating | euraktiv.com
While automakers are busy making plans to roll out electric vehicles, the existing car fleet will continue relying on traditional fuels for many years to come, the industry says, arguing in favour of biofuels to achieve CO2 cuts in the short term.
With its Green Deal unveiled in December 2019, the European Union has set out the most ambitious climate goals of any major economic power – a complete decarbonisation down to net-zero emissions by 2050.
In a move which anticipates increasing desire from airlines to reduce emissions, Neste and Shell Aviation have entered into a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply agreement.
This agreement significantly increases the supply and availability of SAF for the aviation industry with effect from October 2020. It brings together Neste’s expertise in the production and supply of renewable diesel and SAF with Shell Aviation’s world-class credentials in supplying and managing fuel around the world.
A new replacement for petroleum is coming from an unlikely source, i.e., pig manure.
A new replacement for petroleum is coming from an unlikely source, i.e., pig manure. It turns out that pig waste is particularly rich in oils that are very similar to petroleum. And while these oils are too low grade to produce gasoline, they may still work where the rubber meets the road.
Global White Biotechnology Market 2020 Emerging Trends, Size, Share, Demand, Opportunities, COVID-19 Impact Analysis and Forecast-2026.
Despite their ability to create matter out of thin air, algae and cyanobacteria have long been neglected by the biotech industry. Recently, however, they have started to gain traction in new market niches.
White Biotechnology Enzymes Market to grow at 6.9% CAGR to hit $12,047.1 M by 2025 – Insights on Trends, Macroeconomic Indicators, Value Chain Analysis, Restraints, Key Drivers Challenges and Growth Opportunities: Adroit Market Research Rising demand for clean energy is expected to propel the White Biotechnology Enzymes market growth. On the basis of region, North America is expected to be the largest market due to the rising growth of industries such as biofuel, cleaning products, and food & beverages.
If you are new to fermentation or have limited (fewer than 5 years) exposure to fermentation concepts, you are invited to attend Virtual Teams Fermentation Basics Workshop, presented by Mark Berge (Astra Zeneca) and Tim Cooper (Novozymes).
This workshop will introduce attendees to fermentation concepts in industrial settings.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has awarded a five-year grant of €100M to the DTU Biosustain research center near Copenhagen to support the development of sustainable green technology.
The process will be built on Evonik’s artificial photosynthesis technology – being developed independently of this project in collaboration with Siemens – and will be supported by €1M of funding from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Researchers in Germany and France have combined synthetic biology with microfluidics to create artificial photosynthetic droplets, which could lead to the production of organic chemicals and clean fuels that is more efficient than nature can achieve alone.
Britain has gone without coal-fired power generation for its longest stretch since the Industrial Revolution, breaking the existing record of 18 consecutive days this morning.
Read more at theguardian.com.
More than 90 vaccines are being developed against SARS-CoV-2 by research teams in companies and universities across the world. Researchers are trialling different technologies, some of which haven’t been used in a licensed vaccine before. At least six groups have already begun injecting formulations into volunteers in safety trials; others have started testing in animals. Nature’s graphical guide explains each vaccine design.
Read more at nature.com
Artificial intelligence (AI) may sound futuristic, but it already exists in many everyday technologies. For example, it gives our handheld devices voice and facial recognition capabilities. AI is also making its presence felt in biotechnology, where it has become integral to many aspects of drug discovery and development.
AI applications in biotech include drug target identification, drug screening, image screening, and predictive modeling. AI is also being used to comb through the scientific literature and manage clinical trial data.
Read more at genengnews.com
Manufacturing is a crude science. We destroy mountains to extract heavy metals, which we then cook at high pressures and temperatures to make things like plastic, nylon, and rubber. Compare this to nature: Living cells and organisms can make all the chemicals needed to thrive across a wide range of environments, often requiring little more than carbon atoms and some sunlight.
Read more at forbes.com.
At this year’s ABLC Next Conference in San Francisco Velocys presented on the opportunity to produce negative emission fuels at our planned Bayou Fuels facility in Natchez, Mississippi.
Whilst we were not the only company presenting on advanced biofuel products at the conference, our integration of carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) technology into our offering sets us apart from the field.
It sounds like a magic trick…the magician pulls a quarter from behind your ear, seemingly out of thin air. So is it magic? Or is it just a bunch of hot air? We are told to chew with our mouths closed, not just because it’s proper manners, but because it ensures you don’t swallow air that makes you…well…burp, bloat, and ahem fart. But now we will be eating air. Literally, air-based food.
Gevo Inc., a leading renewable fuels and chemicals manufacturer, signed a Fuel Sales Agreement with Scandinavian Airline System (SAS) to produce and supply sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for use and distribution in low carbon fuel regions of the United States. With the finalization of this new supply contract, Gevo will supply SAF to SAS from Gevo’s expanded Luverne, Minnesota plant, which is expected to be constructed over the next several years.
Renewable chemicals are electrifying lately, and becoming more mainstream. Like skydiving, you take a leap of faith. You prepare. You have a parachute. You check your buckles, straps, pulls, and go through all the necessary safety procedures. You check and double check and triple check. And you don’t go alone.
Bioenergy, and in particular advanced biofuels, will help mitigating climate change, will significantly contribute to reach national and global emission goals, and play a key role in the decarbonization of the transport sector.
Multiple studies agree that the sustainable primary bio-feedstock potential will be more than 100EJ/y by 2050. For example, the International Energy Agency (IEA) assumes in their bioenergy roadmap a range of 131 to 240 EJ of sustainable biomass resource could be available by 2060, of which 35-40% will come from agricultural residues.
Researchers from the Idaho National Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory studied greenhouse gas emissions and process economics of 11 biomass feedstocks for conversion to transportation fuels and found that pine feedstock produced the highest product yield and switchgrass feedstock yielded the lowest output. Results of the study were published in the journal Fuel.
Read more at greencarcongress.com.
A gigantic steel cylinder shines in the afternoon sun outside The Plant, a 93,500-square-foot “living food laboratory” here. To the untrained eye, it looks like a space rocket. But it’s not.
It’s an anaerobic digester.
Bubbly Dynamics, the organization that nine years ago converted this former meatpacking facility into a hub for local food businesses, said that, once completed, this “mechanical stomach” would turn organic waste into compost, biogas and a nutrient-rich liquid in which to grow algae.
Read more at nytimes.com.
Through biological engineering, Ginkgo Bioworks design custom organisms to create new products with the potential to transform industries.
Read more at forbes.com.
Fazer Group and Solar Foods, a Finnish foodtech start-up, have entered into a strategic partnership with the objective to jointly research and develop Solar Foods’ novel protein ingredient Solein®. On Fazer’s journey to a modern sustainable food company with a joint direction, the aim is to innovate across categories and boldly support innovations that may change the way people eat in the future. Changes in the food system and consumption habits are key to abate climate change, and with the newly entered partnership, Fazer Group wants to promote research on new solutions.
In hand we now have the latest earnings reports from what you might call the 8 Pathfinders – eight publicly traded stocks whose second quarter results offer insights into the health and performance of the advanced bioeconomy as 2019 heads towards its closing crescendos.
In my previous articles on the contract fermentation landscape here and capital light scale-up here, I reviewed contract fermentation organizations (CMOs) and discussed how the market was tightening. The last article was over a year ago and I thought it was worth an update. I would like to say it is not important to me for my predictions to turn out to be correct, but my friends and colleagues would advise otherwise. In this case, it turns out I was unfortunately correct, the market has continued to tighten. Contract manufacturing options are diminishing and the facilities currently operating are looking for more favorable commercial terms. If you are planning to scale a fermentation process through contract fermentation facilities, it is going to be a good time to bring your “A” game to the search effort.
Amid the growing plastic waste crisis, producers of polyhydroxyalkanoate think the world is ready for their biodegradable polymers
At Silicon Valley Clean Water in Redwood City, California, an installation assembled from a shipping container, plastic piping, brackets, and a small steel reactor is testing technology that could lead to a more sustainable plastic.
Read more at cen.acs.org.
Rising stars are coming together as constellations, the stars are aligning and making magical things happen – today we explore 9 of those constellations building around Sustainable Aviation Fuels. Some of them are young protostars in the earliest stage of stellar evolution, while others are like the Earth’s sun, a main-sequence mid-size star, and a few are superstars like, well, a supernova of course.
Finnish airline Finnair has flown the first biofuel flight supported by its ‘Push for Change’ carbon reducing initiative.
On 5 August, a Finnair flight departing from San Francisco Airport to Helsinki in Finland was fuelled with a 12% biofuel blend. Another flight will depart on 7 August, with the total carbon dioxide emission from the two flights reduced by around 32 tons.
Yes, it’s Carbon Re-Use Week, or, as the carbon atom said to the technology, Waltz Me Once Around Again, Willie. We have one big story from the Wonder from Down Under — Licella, that is — and we may just (wink, wink) have another one for you tomorrow.
Licella signed a memorandum of understanding with New Zealand’s pulp, paper and packaging business giant Oji Fibre Solutions to investigate plastic recycling technology for New Zealand. Specifically, the physical and chemical recycling of what they’re terming End-of-Life Plastic. That is to say, conventionally end of life. Turns out, here’s another carbon source worth an extra chance.
Renewable fuels producer Neste has announced the appointment of Thorsten Lange as executive vice-president for renewable aviation, and member of the company’s executive committee.
Lange will join Neste in February 2020 at the latest, and will report to president and CEO Peter Vanacker. He is moving to Neste from a position with German airline Lufthansa Group.
Rubber Co. has claimed to have developed "the world's first technology" capable of efficiently producing isoprene from a biomass.
The breakthrough was achieved in a joint research with Japanese research institute Riken and materials supplier Zeon Corp., YRC said in a July 26 statement.
Isoprene is a raw material in the production of synthetic rubber and currently is produced as a by-product of naphtha pyrolysis.
In Denmark, a new carbon neutral product – the first of its kind in the industry – is being piloted with select Maersk customers who are highly engaged in sustainable solutions for their supply chain. H&M Group is the first company to trial it as part of the shift towards carbon-neutral transportation.
The biofuel in the pilot project is the same blend of used cooking oil and heavy which has been tested and successfully validated in a trial driven in collaboration with the Dutch Sustainability Growth Coalition (DSGC), and Shell his year. It is certified as a sustainable fuel by the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) body.
How do you know a company is telling the truth about their sustainability claims? How do you know that biofuel X really achieves an 80% GHG emissions savings over fossil fuels? How do you know they aren’t telling “Big Little Lies” like on HBO’s show with stars Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley spinning in tales of mischief?
Well, certifications are one way to help gauge transparency, honesty, verification. And there’s been some big news in certifications over the last week.
Chicago-area start-up LanzaTech has proved it can transform greenhouse gas emissions into fuels and chemicals. Now, the company is trying to bring its clean tech to the masses.
That means consumers could soon be taking flights powered by recycled carbon pollution and wearing sneakers synthesized from planet-warming waste gas.
Read more at cnbc.com
At a basic level, an owner’s engineer is an experienced consultant brought onto the project team with a deep understanding of both the industry being supported and experience working with engineering and construction firms, thus able to represent the company interest. Commonly, it is someone who has successfully executed similar commercialization projects multiple times and joins the team with experience of the entire process. Understanding of the industry being supported is a key factor not to be overlooked. The way that novel food, petrochemical or aseptic fermentation process are commercialized is very different and having the right experience for a specific industry is critical to ultimate success. Some thoughts on selecting the right owner’s engineer is as follows.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Kanteleen Voima is planning to build a biorefinery that would produce ethanol fuel from wood next to the thermal power plant in Haapavesi. The refinery would produce lignin and biogas as well as sludge, which could be used as fertiliser, as by-products. At the same time, the existing peat-fired power plant would be developed into a more efficient CHP plant that would satisfy strict environmental requirements and improve profitability by adding steam production to the existing electricity generation process.
According to a new study by market research firm Emerging Markets Online, renewable diesel is becoming a game changer for several key areas of the low carbon fuels industry, including:
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Entrepreneurs have great ideas. Synthetic biology companies create amazing products based on proven science. These things take a lot of work, of course, but even more is required to turn a great idea into a profit-turning product. The critical challenge all companies eventually face on their path to profit is scaling. And, like it or not, scaling is critical for securing investors, as many consider a company’s potential to scale a critical part of making funding decisions.
The ability to translate from discovery to manufacturing is a clear and significant strategic advantage for any company — yet the journey is often long and arduous, not to mention expensive. Add to that a complex regulatory and IP field. Altogether, this requires most companies to outsource multiple parts of the process to bring a product to market.
A Gladstone oil refinery says it has found the solution to Australia's tyre waste and fuel security problems.
Read more at abc.net.au
Cells are one of nature’s greatest feats of engineering. They contain within the instructions for the entire lifecycle of our bodies. They are a critical building block for all life on Earth. But they also have their limitations.
As the next wave of first-of-a-kind biorefineries ramps-up, the subject of project engineering once again comes to the forefront. Questions about the overall process, why it takes so long and costs so much abound, all capped off by the realization that an EPC solution counted on is not always the reality. An understanding of the entire process is key for those heading down the commercialization path. The graphic below is a concept to commercial operation roadmap, with detailed descriptions that follow.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com.
In North Dakota, following a geological survey of the eight miles surrounding the facility, Red Trail Energy has decided to move forward with its carbon capture plans. The move is meant to reduce the carbon footprint of the ethanol produced at the facility so it may be able to supply more lucrative ethanol markets like California where low carbon fuel standards reward lower carbon fuels. The 3D seismic survey around the facility used the vibroseis technique where vibrations sent into the earth by large trucks with vibrator pads are measured.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Researchers in Idaho are helping cut the cost of domestic biofuel production by reducing the price of delivered biomass feedstocks up to the point where the biomass enters the biorefinery reactor.
In September, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) bioenergy researchers met a major milestone by reducing the modeled cost of harvesting, storing, transporting, and preprocessing biomass from $149.58/dry ton to $82.86/dry ton. This is not only a significant decrease in cost, but also surpasses the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office’s (BETO’s) performance goal: a modeled feedstock cost lower than $84.45/dry ton from harvest to the biorefinery reactor throat, including the grower payment. A similar change in crude oil prices between 2008 and 2010 shrunk gasoline prices by more than $1/gallon, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Read more at energy.gov
Today, the US Department of Energy took a bold step forward in wastes to biopower and gaseous fuels for medium and heavy-duty vehicles. It’s part of a major $51 million funding package for advanced vehicle technologies that also includes work on energy-efficient engines and fast-fueling for hydrogen fuels.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Global Algae Innovations was founded in 2013 and focuses on algae for commodities with initial technology development nearly complete.
Dave Hazlebeck from Global Algae Innovations gave this illuminating overview of how the algae industry can provide a solution to the protein crisis, algae production process, and more at ABLC Global 2018 in San Francisco – and it’s ready for you now at The Digest online.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com.
In a tale of two Washingtons, the sustainable aviation fuels movement will gather in Washington state in March and in Washington, D.C. in April to seek breakthroughs in the adoption rate of jet biofuels, which have been stalled for some time between the successful certification/demonstration efforts of the last decade and the widespread deployment which is the focus of all the effort.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Oceans and seas are rich in bioresources. Developing these resources in a sustainable way is the goal of stakeholders in politics, science and industry that are committed to the Blue Bioeconomy.
The new European Research Area-Net Cofund on Blue Bioeconomy (ERA-NET BlueBio COFUND) is dedicated to this very goal. Here, 30 partners from 18 countries have joined forces to advance research and development projects concerning the Blue Bioeconomy. The main focus is on new solutions for food security and the production of healthy and safe food from aquatic resources based on new biological and biotechnological know-how.
On a biotechnology project years ago, one of the team members responsible for biological advancement referred to themselves as the microbial organisms “shop steward”, a reference to union representation. While it was somewhat in jest, it did imply that to get the most from the microbe, its needs had to be taken into account. It’s worth looking at scale-up from the perspective of the microbe for some valuable lessons.
In Washington, scientists are more rapidly designing peptides for industrial and medical applications, such as catalysts for biofuels, through a complex computational model and real-time testing with the award-winning SLIM ion analysis technology. What used to be a slow process has been sped up thanks to a team of scientists who blended complex calculations with an award-winning ion analysis technology to rapidly design and test peptides.
Scientists from the University of Washington, Stanford University, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) created a computational model that allowed them to simulate various types of peptides and identify which were stable enough for use as scaffolding for industrial and medical purposes.
The new approach allowed the scientists to accomplish the work in hours instead of days. The resulting comprehensive library of designed peptides will serve as a foundation for future efforts.
https://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2019/01/06/more-designer-peptides-more-possibilities/
No matter how widely known your product is, it always seems that banks and investors fear that you will not be able to sell your product – to anyone. This may seem preposterous if you intend to make what we call a commodity product (a product whose price is easily established by numerous market participants and privately or publically published). But, believe me, once you start planning your project you will get questions about who will buy your output.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Ethanol accounts for around ninety-four percent of the renewable fuel market in the United States. Average daily production and consumption is over one million barrels per day. This represents more than ten percent of the U.S. gasoline market, the largest in the world.
Ethanol is a renewable resource primarily produced from corn in the U.S. In another large market, Brazil, ethanol is primarily made by processing sugarcane.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Many bioeconomy investors, while experienced with careful evaluation of marketing, supply chain, and legal aspects of due diligence, may be less familiar with scientific and technical evaluation of new technologies. Often only a cursory analysis is performed before making investment decisions. Appropriate technical due diligence can save investors millions of dollars and avoid significant embarrassment for the developers. About 10 percent of projects make it from the proof of principle stage to commercial operation; in-depth evaluation of project technology in both the early and later stages can improve the likelihood of selecting a project that will succeed.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Woody (lignocellulosic) plant biomass is an abundant renewable feedstock, rich in polysaccharides that are bound into an insoluble fiber composite with lignin. Marine crustacean woodborers of the genus Limnoria are among the few animals that can survive on a diet of this recalcitrant material without relying on gut resident microbiota. Analysis of fecal pellets revealed that Limnoria targets hexose-containing polysaccharides (mainly cellulose, and also glucomannans), corresponding with the abundance of cellulases in their digestive system, but xylans and lignin are largely unconsumed. We show that the limnoriid respiratory protein, hemocyanin, is abundant in the hindgut where wood is digested, that incubation of wood with hemocyanin markedly enhances its digestibility by cellulases, and that it modifies lignin. We propose that this activity of hemocyanins is instrumental to the ability of Limnoria to feed on wood in the absence of gut symbionts. These findings may hold potential for innovations in lignocellulose biorefining.
Read more at Nature.com
The European Union Court of Justice has ruled that plants created using genome editing methods WILL be classed as genetically modified organisms and therefore have to undergo the same safety checks for their impacts on the environment and human health as existing genetically modified foods (GMOs). Until yesterday this had been a grey area for the industry. The ruling came following ten years of discussion, is seen as a victory for environmentalists but a blow for the bio-economy.
Companies that had been working on technologies that change genetic material in plants or animals, had been eagerly awaiting this ruling, which would indicate if they needed to match the EU’s rules on genetic modification, which are much stricter than the rules in the USA.
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) has released a new report, “Renewable Chemical Platforms Building the Biobased Economy,” to document the rapid expansion of renewable chemical platforms and applications around the world. The report profiles 100 companies located in 16 countries – from small startups to large brand manufacturers – that are commercializing renewable chemical applications, report highlights include:
Synbio Powerhouse is the synthetic biology ecosystem and service operator with the aim to boost synthetic biology based business growth in Finland.
The Pilots4U network has just announced the launch of its database. The Pilots4U database maps all open access pilot and demonstration infrastructures across Europe, with the aim of helping companies and research institutions operating in the bio-economy, gain easier access to testing facilities that can bring their ideas from development to the market.
Discussion of biotechnology capital costs is often a controversial topic, on par with discussing politics at the Thanksgiving dinner table; why the facilities are so expensive and a disbelief of the forecasted costs. As a seasoned veteran in the battle, trust me when I tell you that the cost of a fully-constructed industrial biotechnology facility will be about 3 times the purchase cost of the major equipment. Similar to election day, just because the estimate is not the desired outcome, does not mean it is not reality.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Scientists have discovered nearly two dozen new types of microbes, many of which use hydrocarbons such as methane and butane as energy sources -- meaning they might be helping to limit the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and might one day be useful for cleaning up oil spills.
Read more at sciencedaily.com
Following the acquisition of Heurtey Petrochem and the integration of 50% of Eurecat, Axens Group now provides a complete range of solutions including: technologies, equipment, furnaces, modular units, catalysts, adsorbents and services for the conversion of oil and biomass to cleaner fuels as well as production and purification of major petrochemical intermediates. The offer also covers all of natural gas’ treatment and conversion options.
Axens Group cover the entire value chain, from feasibility study to unit start-up and follow-up throughout the unit entire life cycle. “This unique range of solutions ensures the highest level of performance with a reduced environmental footprint,” the company notes.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are launching a new €100 million fund to stimulate private investment in the bioeconomy, to help European bio-based companies gain ground in the race for capital.
EU Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas on Monday appealed for managers to run the new investment vehicle, called the ‘circular bio-economy investment platform’, as it looks to attract several sources of capital, including from banks, pension funds and venture capitalists to invest alongside member states.
The Commission will provide cornerstone investment for the fund, with money drawn from its current research programme, Horizon 2020.
Read more at sciencebusiness.net
BETO has been developing a broad understanding of different conversion processes that produce bioproducts and the associated market attributes. However, there is not much understanding around how investment decisions are made and the possible successful scenarios for advancing the bioproducts and biofuels industries.
The goal in this project is to develop an analysis capability to achieve deeper understanding of the environment and drivers that impact the growth of the bioproducts industry in order to support BETO bioenergy strategy development.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Scientists have made tremendous progress with biotechnology in recent years. Chemical ingredients and inputs produced for the cosmetics, personal care, and perfume industries are starting to come from biotech rather than petro-chemical technologies. To find out how biological design is working for fragrance, Cosmetics Design checked in with Christina Agapakis, creative director at Ginkgo Bioworks.
Read more at cosmeticsdesign.com
Pivot Bio is the first company to offer US corn farmers a new 'probiotic for plants' as a replacement for expensive, greenhouse-gassy fertilizer.
Read more at wired.com
A Reflection from Ag Innovation Showcase – 10 Years Later.
Read more at newleafsym.com
Codexis is a leading protein engineering company that applies its technology to the development of biocatalysts for the commercial manufacture of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. Codexis’ proven technology enables implementation of biocatalytic solutions to meet customer needs for rapid, cost-effective and sustainable manufacturing.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Additional note: These cars can also feed electricity to national electricity net. To change present fossil energy using vehicles to normal electric cars would mean high additional investement in electricity generating power plants. This would become unnecessary if new cars would be self electricity generating fuel cell cars; in case of shortage car owners could sell electricity to the net at price of the day. Large group of privately owned ethanol fuel cell cars would then compete on the market against coal and nuclear electricity plants. In future electricity can possibly be generated in fuel cell cars also from biogas.
Read slides by Nissan (PDF, 10 pages)
Founded in 2004, Green Plains Inc. is North America’s third largest producer of ethanol. Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, Green Plains has grown rapidly, primarily through acquisitions, and today has operating segments throughout the ethanol value chain.
Operations begin upstream with a grain handling segment, continue through approximately 1.5 billion gallons of ethanol production capacity per year, and ends downstream with product marketing and distribution. GPRE focuses on generating stable operating margins through diversified business segments and its risk management strategy.
The investment rationale? Owning and operating assets throughout the ethanol value chain enables them to mitigate the effects of changes in commodity prices on our profitability and differentiates us from companies focused only on ethanol production.
We’ve edited down from this intriguing public company’s most recent presentation and quarterly reporting material as we look at Green Plains’ progress and promise.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
For many people, a key question in the advanced bioeconomy continues to be: “what is Amyris becoming, and when, and where and how?”
Becoming a global leader in the health and beauty market, and self-funding operations in 2018 with at least $10 million in EBITDA this year — those are the targets appearing out of Emeryville now.
Amyris and its management team gave this presentations on Q2 2018 results and the outlook from 2018 and beyond in recent weeks — an illuminating overview of Amyris’ promise and progress on multiple fronts.
Read slides at biofuelsdigest.com
Calyxt is pioneering a paradigm shift to deliver both healthier specialty food ingredients, such as healthier oils and high fiber wheat for consumers as well as agriculturally advantageous traits, such as herbicide tolerance to farmers.
The technology enables Calyxt to precisely and specifically edit a plant genome to elicit the desired traits and characteristics, resulting in a final product that has no foreign DNA.
The company offered this illuminating overview of its technologies’ promise and progress as part of the Q2 reporting cycle.
Read slides at biofuelsdigest.com
In today’s Digest, let’s look at trends driving the industry’s results at scale — and while money is not the measure of all progress, it is the ultimate yardstick and especially for companies that have reached industrial scale. So, let’s look at Q2 earnings statements now just coming out from four of the sector’s signature companies in fuels, enzymes, crop development & protection, and nutrition and wellness. Namely, Novozymes, DSM, Amyris, Gevo, Corbion, and Aemetis.
Read more at biofuelsdigest.com
Stora Enso and Norwegian manufacturer of household products Orthex have collaborated on the development and production of a new range of kitchen utensils made from a biocomposite which combines the best qualities of wood and plastic.
Read more at bioplasticsmagazine.com
Biofuels for marine diesels — a biofuel developers dream? That’s the premise of his IEA webinar deck on the promise and progress in marine biofuels, a 330 Mton fuel market with both fuel technology in transition, and where anything that is carbon-based, liquid, stable and low in sulphur might work.
This illuminating overview of the opportunities and challenges was developed by Claus Felby at the University of Copenhagen.
Read slides at biofuelsdigest.com
This report investigates how a more circular economy can contribute to cutting CO2 emissions. It explores a broad range of opportunities for the four largest materials in terms of emissions (steel, plastics, aluminium, and cement) and two large use segments for these materials (passenger cars and buildings).
The key conclusion is that a more circular economy can make deep cuts to emissions from heavy industry: in an ambitious scenario, as much as 296 million tons CO2 per year in the EU by 2050, out of 530 Mt in total – and some 3.6 billion tonnes per year globally. Making better use of the materials that already exist in the economy thus can take EU industry halfway towards net-zero emissions. Moreover, doing so often is economically attractive. Initiatives for a more circular economy therefore deserve a central place in EU climate and industrial policy.
Download publication at sitra.fi
Microorganisms represent the oldest biological forms on the planet and reside in virtually all environments capable of supporting life. These metabolically diverse microscopic organisms are responsible for driving global energy fluxes, including the carbon and nutrient cycles which dramatically affect soil health and nutrient uptake in higher plants, and which support plant growth, health and productivity. Modern “omics” technologies have been employed to better elucidate the complexities of these microbial-plant relationships. However, these sophisticated methods generate complex data that requires time-consuming interpretation and are too costly to be used “on-farm” by growers as decision making tools to optimize agricultural practices to increase crop productivity. The scientific and academic communities continue to advance our knowledge of complex microbial-plant ecological relationships; but there is an immediate need to develop rapid, low cost diagnostics tools, which growers can use to better apply this growing body of knowledge to their individual farms and successfully increase crop yields. This Commentary briefly reviews current literature documenting the importance of microorganisms to crop productivity and the complex relationship between components of a productive agricultural soil microbiome. We also offer a forward-looking perspective regarding on-farm tools that could enable growers to capitalize in predictable and controllable ways, on this expanding knowledge of how microbial-plant relationships can contribute to improved crop performance to benefit growers.
Read more at liebertpub.com
Human population is increasing from 7.6 billion today to an estimated 9.5–10 billion by 2050.1 How can billions more people, with increasing demands for protein and other food sources, be adequately fed without destroying the environment? Utilizing more land for agricultural purposes is not a solution, given that much of the arable land on the planet is already being used for food, fiber, chemical, or fuel production. One answer to this complex challenge will lie in the ability to produce more food within the current footprint in sustainable and affordable ways.
Read more at liebertpub.com
Now all IBC Finland annual seminars from 2016 are on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw9OpU6fsKTPpvBSDW14-XQ/featured
or use the key word IBC Finland.
Aemetis owns and operates 110 million gallons per year of ethanol and biodiesel facilities in the US and India, and is upgrading the plants using patented technology to produce lower carbon, higher value advanced biofuels and chemicals using lower cost, non-food energy sources and feedstocks. Of special interest is the Aemetis cellulosic refinery using agricultural waste to generate cellulosic ethanol in a technology partnership with LanzaTech among others.
CEO Eric McAfee gave this illuminating overview of the company’s most recent progress and promise at ABLC 2018 in Washington DC.
Read slides at biofuelsdigest.com
The Innovation Award for the Bio-based Material of the year 2018 will be awarded during the 11th International Conference on Bio-Based Materials in Cologne.
Read more at bioplasticsnews.com
Scientists have engineered an enzyme which can digest some of our most commonly polluting plastics, providing a potential solution to one of the world’s biggest environmental problems.
The discovery could result in a recycling solution for millions of tonnes of plastic bottles, made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which currently persists for hundreds of years in the environment.
The research was led by teams at the University of Portsmouth and the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Read more at eurekalert.org
There has been requests for mentoring for start-up and small companies in biotechnology in Finland. IBC has decided to contribute in creating such networks. Our aim is to ease to start a new biotechnology company and to let the companies to grow.
First mentor network is associated to the Business Mentors Finland. This network is aimed to businesses more in need of basic business advise but related to biotechnology.
The second network is aimed for businesses in high tech field and called Life Science Mentors. Life Science Mentors network is now launched.
Deinove is launching a new compound made from a plant pigment that could be used in anti-aging and make-up products.
Deinove, based in Montpellier, is the first company to produce pure phytoene, an anti-aging cosmetic compound, through bacterial fermentation. The company plans to launch an anti-aging and cosmetic skin care product, Phyt-N-Resist, made from their phytoene concentrated in jojoba oil.
Read more at labiotech.eu
The production and sale of electric vehicles accelerated in 2016, with two million cars manufactured and over 750,000 sold globally, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 2017 Global Electric Vehicle report.
And the market is expected to boom further in the coming years. The report predicts electric car stocks will range from between nine million and 20 million by 2020 and between 40 million and 70 million by 2025. Countries around the world are also attempting to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars, and are encouraging motorists to go green.
However, electric vehicles are not emissions-free. While these vehicles obviously run on electricity, that electricity typically comes from a mix of emissions-intensive fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and power from renewables. That is, unless you live in country like Norway, which generates virtually all of its electricity from hydropower. But Norway is the exception rather than the rule.
Read more at weforum.org
Irish accelerator RebelBio has launched its latest cohort of startups that will receive its support during a 3-month program at Imperial College London.
RebelBio is a startup accelerator that helps entrepreneurs to build technology associated with the life sciences field. It offers seed funding, lab space, mentorship, and a community of successful and diverse founders from all sectors.
Read more at labiotech.eu