Daily News

As a result of new research involving a cutting-edge facility at Montana State University (Bozeman, USA), agricultural biomass that would otherwise sit in farmers’ fields could instead be turned into plastic beverage bottles and food containers.

Earlier this week, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, and the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, Barbara Creecy, will officiate the hand-over of the biodegradation assessment laboratory equipment to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria (South Africa).

A new University of Queensland-led training centre is set to become a hub for world-leading research in ‘green’ plastic.

Researchers from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) (UK) have developed a new enzyme engineering platform to improve plastic degrading enzymes through directed evolution.

3D printing has been in use in architecture for a while, and now it is to become ecologically sustainable as well: Together with partners, the LZH (Laser Zentrum Hannover, Germany) is researching how to produce individual building elements from natural fibres using additive manufacturing.

Aiming to produce environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic food wrap and containers, a Rutgers scientist has developed a biodegradable, plant-based coating that can be sprayed on foods, guarding against pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms and transportation damage.

A species of worm with an appetite for polystyrene could be the key to plastic recycling on a mass scale.

For the 5th time we will host the Bioplastics Business Breakfast during the K-show in Düsseldorf, Germany - if you would like to be a presenter, let us know.

Scientists at Bath University (Bath, England) found that incorporating sugar units into polymers makes them more degradable when exposed to UV light.

An enzyme variant created by engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin (USA) can break down environment-throttling plastics that typically take centuries to degrade in just a matter of hours to days.

Styrofoam egg cartons, hard plastic compact disc cases, red drinking cups, and many other common products are composed of polystyrene, a type of plastic that makes up a third of landfill waste worldwide.

In October 2016, students from the Dutch universities TU/e (Eindhoven), TU Delft, Avans (Breda, 's-Hertogenbosch, and Tilburg), and the Eindhoven’s vocational colleges built a footbridge on the TU/e campus. The unique thing about this bridge was not that it was built on the TU/e campus, but that it was made from a biocomposite material that included flax, and it was the world’s first biocomposite bridge.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers are part of a new USD 6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop bioplastics for use in agriculture over the next four years.

Researchers discover an enhanced reaction rate when gold and palladium nanoparticles are placed on a conductive support.

UBC Okanagan (Kelowna, Canada) researchers have adapted a technique – originally designed to embalm human remains – to strengthen the properties of biocomposites and make them stronger.

The Department of Energy has granted USD 2 million over three years to Braskem America, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Princeton University to develop plastic that can be recycled perpetually, reducing waste and pollution from single-use plastics.

Inspired by the always immaculate lotus leaf, researchers have developed a self-cleaning bioplastic that is sturdy, sustainable, and compostable.

Sustainable biochemicals company Circa Group AS has been awarded €8.2 million from the French government for the development of its ReSolute plant in Eastern France as part of the ‘France Relance’ programme.

Aduro Clean Technologies, Inc. a Canadian developer of patented water-based technologies to chemically recycle plastics and to transform heavy crude and renewable oils into new-era resources and higher- value fuels, has announced the achievement of the first milestone under the securities exchange agreement dated October 22, 2021.

A new innovation project called PyroCO2 aimed at demonstrating the large-scale con version of industrial carbon emissions into value-added chemicals and materials kicked off today.

A study using Circa’s renewable solvent Cyrene and new solvent Cygnet 0.0 showed that they have enhanced performance in the production of membranes, as well as when used as solvents in the bio-catalysed synthesis of polyesters. This work opens up a wealth of possibilities to replace toxic, fossil-based solvents throughout polymer chemistry.

In an article published on 10 June in Nature Communications, researchers at the University of Cambridge Knowles Lab describe how they are able to create a polymer film from plant protein that is sustainable, scalable and 100 percent natural.

While plastics are processed at temperatures considerably higher than 100 degrees Celsius, enzymes usually become denatured at these high temperatures. Now, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP have managed to reconcile these contradictions: they are able to embed enzymes in plastics without the enzymes losing their activity in the process.

Avantium N.V, a leading technology company in renewable chemistry, announces that that it has been awarded a total of €1.78 million by the EU Horizon 2020 program.

A new report has been published, laying out the current state of the carbon economy within the EU as well as the technological and societal challenges that prohibit a sustainable transition to the circular economy.

With the launch of a new, unique event – the Renewable Materials Conference – comes, too, a new innovation award for the Renewable Material of the Year 2021. The conference, said organiser nova Institute, is an attempt to bring all relevant industries involved in the development of renewable material solutions under the umbrella of a single, all-encompassing 3-day ‘renewables’ event.

Sustainable biochemicals company Circa Group AS has announced that Dr Sarah Hickingbottom has joined the company as General Manager for New Product Development and Stakeholder Relations on 29 March 2021.

The University of Bath has become the first UK university to sign the Green Chemistry Commitment - a charter to train the next generation of chemists in the theory and application of green chemistry principles.

Renewable chemistry company Avantium N.V., a leading technology company in renewable chemistry, has announced that its subsidiary Avantium Renewable Polymers (“Avantium RNP”) has signed two additional conditional offtake agreements for the supply of PEF resin to manufacture bottles and films, bringing the total now to four such contracts.

The annual Green Talents Competition, organised by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), has been won by Laura Rovira Alsina, a doctoral student in Water Science and Technology at the University of Girona (Spain).