5 Top trends, 6 hot quotes: “Heard on the floor” at the BIO World Congress

June 19, 2013 |

BIOWe heard five trends during the first two days of the BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology this year.

1. Methane.
2. Low-cost sugars.
3. Chemicals.
4. Opportunities in the C4 platform – anything from isobutanol to BDO and butadiene.
5. Financing challenges, especially for first commercial plants

Our 6 favorite quotes?

1. “The trends you see at BIO this year? Methane, low-cost sugars, and chemicals.”

2. “We don’t yet see a significant amount of renewable content inside the recycle stream itself, but we are monitoring that and expect to see over time that products like the Plant Bottle will begin to change that. But when we refer to, for example, 30% renewable content, that means right now that we are sourcing that all from virgin renewable fibers.”

“We saw significant consumer pull for PET (plastic bottles) compared to glass – 2 liter glass bottles with product had an incredible amount of weight. “Renewable” is a term that can be leveraged with consumers, we proven that now with our work to date. But many of the benefits (of renewables) are largely transparent to the customer – you are not, for example, going to see a change in weight or shelf life.” – Mike Schultheis, The Coca-Cola Company

4. “You can sum us up in three takeaways. At commercial-scale. Solid economics = profit for our partners. Performance Guarantees.” – Michele Rubino, Beta Renewables

5. “A key element in this business is to recognize interdependence. If you improve yeast technology and performance you also can reduce enzyme costs.” – Oliver May, DSM

6. “Two trends are unmistakable. Reducing the environmental footprint and economic growth through resource maximization.” – Andrew Casey, CEO, BIOTECanada

7. “If we look at things in a silo…food…fuel…feed, instead of food and feed and fuel, [as a society] we are never going to get anywhere.” – Joanna Dupont-Inglis, Director of Industrial Biotechnology, EuropaBio

Category: Top Stories

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