News just in from Texas, Solugen, a company decarbonizing the chemicals industry, announced a Series C financing round of over $350 million. Solugen’s patented Bioforge processes produce chemicals from bio-based feedstocks and are based on breakthroughs in synthetic biology, metal catalyst engineering, and modular plant design. In today’s Digest, the funding, who’s behind it, the […]
In Sweden, EnginZyme, a company developing a technology platform for sustainable production of chemicals, closed an extension to its Series A financing round, bringing the total raised to €11 million or about $13 million. The extension round was led by Industrifonden, Sweden’s largest deep tech venture capital firm, followed by SEB Greentech VC and existing […]
In Germany, a ew trend report from nova institut highlights policies around the world and their positive and negative impacts on bio-based plastics market developments. A must read for any investor or producer – where is demand expected to increase? In contrast to biofuels, there are currently no strong, comprehensive policy frameworks in place to […]
By Dr. Bernard Cooker, Chemical Processing Solutions Special to The Digest This is a review of the biomass-fed chemical process projects to renewable chemicals which were published in Chemical Engineering Progress (CEP) and Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) from 1/1/16 to 10/31/16, including activity in bioplastics, biopolymers and biochemicals. It is based on a spreadsheet […]
In Ireland, Research and Markets is projecting a pine-derived chemicals market, in terms of value, of $4.8 Billion by 2020, at a CAGR of around 4.7 % from 2015 to 2020. That’s the headline from R&M’s new ”Pine-Derived Chemicals Market by Type (TOFA, TOR, Gum Turpentine, Gum Rosin, Pitch, Sterols), Application (Paints & Coatings, Adhesives […]
In New York, a PwC analysis shows that the chemicals sector saw strong improvement in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in 2014 with 177 deals worth more than $50 million and a total value of $85 billion. The industry recorded the highest volume in a decade and reaching the highest deal value since 2007. Megadeals, […]
In Massachusetts, the first higher-value chemical derived from lignin will hit the market in 2021, according to a new Lux Research report. Additionally, thermal routes for converting lignin into smaller chemical constituents appear the best for near-term development; chemical, metallic catalytic, and biological may take longer to come downy the pipeline. Finally, the report also […]
Chasing treasure? Start with a map. Here’s ours. A biofuels map, that is, the chart we use to diagram how to look at technologies, drivers, stakeholders and their concerns. In today’s Digest, let’s look at The Map. Which is to say, the guide map we use here in Digestville to understand how and why companies […]
In Switzerland, Clariant has joined the Together for Sustainability (TIS) chemical industry initiative aimed at improving sustainability practices within the supply chains of the chemical industry. The initiative jointly conducts supplier assessments and audit programs, avoiding the need for individual members to conduct their own scoring programs. Clariant becomes the eighth member in the initiative […]
In Finland, a team has written an article for the forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Sustainable Economy, suggesting that biogas generated in landfills be used as an alternative feedstock for the chemical industry, rather than for generating electricity. Jouko Arvola of the University of Oulu and colleagues there and at Oulu University of […]
