February 2009 Archives

Green products might not be recession-proof after all.

Market research firm Mintel noted that premium-priced green products might be relocating to the bottom supermarket shelves as people's priorities are now changing because of the current economy.

According to their recent US consumer survey data,over half of respondents (54%) said they would buy more green products but the products are too expensive. Mintel said there is a hesitance towards buying green based on price.

"A substantial number of shoppers are now struggling just to provide the basics for their families, so green living is no longer top of mind for many Americans," said Marcia Mogelonsky, Ph. D and senior research analyst at Mintel.

Bad news for green chemistry and industrial biotechnology proponents in Europe. According to this article from ICIS Chemical Business, Europe is losing ground when it comes to bio-refinery R&D and infrastructure because of decreasing funding and resources.

The opposite is happening in the US where the former Bush administration drove large funding for biofuels R&D, and the Obama administration is expected to increase target output for biofuels. The same increased funding is said to be happening in China because of their 5-year growth plan.

ICB says construction of demo plants in the EU is trailing the US by a long distance. Because of generous R&D funding from the US Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture, the article said that European companies are instead going offshore to work on development projects bringing with them European technologies on biorefineries and their raw materials.

It is of note that big European chemical companies usually participate in the funding of biorefinery developments in the region. With the current bleak chemical landscape and companies cost-cutting left and right, this is probably another blow to the European bio and green chemical industry development.

It seems the current economic recession has curtailed the desire for several planned plastic bag bans or tax, according to this article from the New York Times.

The mayor in Portland, Oregon, decided this month to discard his proposal of taxing plastic bags citing the current economic strain faced by people, while another proposal in Virginia also stalled amid resistance from retail groups and bag makers.

The 20-cent fee plastic bag bill proposed in Seattle will now be decided in an election in August, reported New York Times. While there had been several legislative proposals in states like Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Texas, and Virginia, so far no state has yet imposed a fee or a ban.

Last month, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City also proposed a plastic bag fee but it seems that the issue has not come up again as the mayor battles more pressing things...such as trying to maintain his approval rating perhaps?

Today, Colorado lawmakers in the senate rejected a bill that would have ban large retailers' use of plastic bags by 2012 within the state, according to Associated Press.

Agribusiness major Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is not looking for oil in this case (although they could hope!) but instead is starting its carbon capture and storage project with its partner Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium.

According to this article from Herald & Review (via SoyaTech website), workers for the project have started constructing a well that will reach more than 6,500 feet underground. The drilling of the injection well is expected to be completed in late March or early April.

The project is intended to capture carbon dioxide from ADM's ethanol plant, convert it into liquid and pump it underground for storage before it's emitted into the atmosphere. The U.S. Department of Energy expects 1 million tons of carbon dioxide from the plant to be injected over a three-year period, beginning in early 2010.

The green chemistry field is on fire this week! (I mean this figuratively so need to call the Environmental Protection Agency)

After Segetis' news on their full-speed plant operation in Minneapolis last Monday, another start-up firm Genomatica announced today that they have developed biobased methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), an industrial solvent, using sugar and water - and maybe a catalyst and some organisms to go along with it.

Genomatica hopes this new process will help the ailing ethanol industry as the biobased MEK can be produced in existing ethanol manufacturing facilities with minimal additional investments. The Renewable Fuels Association estimated that 10 or more companies have shut down 24 ethanol plants, which represents 15% of US ethanol production, over the last 3 months.

Definitely a great news for ex (or soon to be) ethanol manufacturers wanting to get more profits out of their plants. Genomatica said the MEK industry is worth more than $2 billion worldwide.

About 400 million pounds of MEK are bought and sold in the United States each year, and around 100 million pounds are said to be imported from overseas.

Genomatica is also currently tweaking their biobased- 1,4 butanediol (BDO) process. The company is now developing the process engineering plans for a demonstration plant to manufacture bio-BDO and expects to initiate construction of the plant later this year.

The US Department of Justice has fined BP Products North America almost $180 million for violating EPA's Clean Air Act regulations at its Texas City, Texas refinery.

BP agreed to the settlement and will spend more than $161m on pollution controls, enhanced maintenance and monitoring and improved management practices on its petroleum refining operations. EPA said these actions will reduce emissions of benzene and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by approximately 6,000 pounds annually.

BP will also have to eliminate 51,000 pounds of stratospheric ozone-depleting hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs)by retrofitting industrial and commercial cooling appliances at Texas City to use non-ozone-depleting refrigerants. The company agreed to improve its oversight and management of asbestos-containing wastes generated during routine renovation and demolition activities at the Texas City refinery.

The Texas City refinery, the third largest in the nation, has a production capacity of more than 460,000 barrels per day.

This is why benign molecules are important to develop in the first place (as according to John Warner of Warner Bobcock Institute for Green Chemistry). No need to spend millions of dollars retrofitting plants and paying fines in the future if the chemicals emitted in refineries are already safe to the atmosphere and to human health!

This is the same Texas refinery, by the way, that saw a catastrophic explosion and fire in March 2005 killing 15 people. The settlement does not address any claims arising from that explosion, according to DOJ.

BP will also pay $12m civil penalty and $6 million on a supplemental project (such as converting 100 diesel municipal vehicles, including school buses, to operate on compressed or liquefied natural gas, and constructing four refueling stations for the converted vehicles) to reduce air pollution in Texas City.

Just my luck that a lot of green chemical news are happening today when the blog looks ugly.

It seems that ex-Cargill folks are expanding left and right within the green chemistry field as newbie company Segetis just announced today the full-startup of its operations in Minneapolis. I've mentioned before that Segetis' CEO Jim Stoppert previously headed Cargill's Industrial Bioproducts unit.

Segetis' facility will produce up to 250,000 pounds per year of renewable based- chemicals and chemical building blocks like levulinic acid and glycerol for products such as polyols and plasticizers.

This announcement coincidentally (is it??) follows last week's news about Elevance's official opening of its Bolingbrook, IL, facility. I am actually working on an article about that and their green chemistry roundtable event from last week. Watch out for it in the next few days and hopefully within a nice-looking green blog layout.

Did I mention that several Elevance employees are from Cargill's Industrial Bioproducts unit as well? Elevance evolved last year from a collaboration between Cargill and technology firm Materia with the financial backing of investment firm TPG.

Bioplastic manufacturer NatureWorks says automated systems currently used in plastic recycling has the capability to 100% sort out bioplastic bottles from other petroleum-based plastic bottles.

"This finding is significant because it demonstrates that there is no technological barrier to recycling bottles made from plants instead of oil," according to NatureWorks.

UK-based non-profit group WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), reported that near-infrared systems can also effectively remove polylactic acid (PLA)-based bioplastic and carton board from a mixed packaging stream.

I do wonder how much those systems will cost plastic recyclers? Still, it seems to be a good investment as bioplastic production is increasing year over year.

For the past year, NatureWorks was able to incorporate its bioplastic product Ingeo in several branded bottled water products such from North Carolina-based Primo Water, New Zealand-based GoodWater, and Italy-based Fonti di Vinadio for its line of mineral water.

The ICIS blog gods are on vacation and so the green blog is still in a bit of a mess. Pls. bear with me for a few more days as I wait and rant and pray for a new and improved green blog to emerge.

For now, here's this week's news roundup:

Bioplastic acquired
Swedish bioplastic company Tenova Bioplastics AB has been acquired by packaging company Billerud. Tenova AB will be consolidated within the Billerud Group as of 1 February 2009.

Intellectual property sold
Cincinnati-based technology company AdvanceBio Systems LLC has acquired exclusive intellectual property rights to provide pre-treatment equipment and systems on a turnkey basis to the next-generation cellulosic ethanol and renewable chemicals industries. AdvanceBio provides consulting services and technology to companies that are developing new projects in the biofuels industry and biochemical sector.

High green grade for DSM
Life Sciences and materials company Royal DSM N.V.received an A+ in its Triple P report 2008 according to the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The rating is the highest score companies worldwide can achieve for the transparency of their sustainability reporting efforts.

Green Chevron in Qatar
Chevron plans to commit $20 million over five years to form a partnership with the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) in Doha and establish the Center for Sustainable Energy Efficiency, which intends to focus on developing technologies in lighting and cooling that work effectively in the Middle East climate.

Sun Power in Italy
Solar materials manufacturer SunPower Corp. signed an agreement with Sunshire, S.r.l., a subsidiary of Api Nova Energia S.r.l., to design and build a 2.2-megawatt solar electric power plant in Tolentino, Italy. First phase of the project is expected to be completed this year.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
Investors still find green chemistry companies as attractive candidates despite the current financial turmoil.

Commercialisation of biobutanol for use as a fuel can be expected within the next 4 to 5 years according to a consultant.

The US and Canada agreed to establish a clean energy dialogue that would help them meet energy supply, security and environmental challenges.

Truthfully, I have no idea on some of the technical jargons behind this press statement from Mitsubishi Electric but it seems important enough to warrant its own post.

According to the company, it was able to develop multi-crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells with the world's highest conversion efficiency rate of 18.9% - meaning it is the fastest solar cell to be able to convert solar light energy to electrical energy directly (I think that's what it means).

Mitsubishi plans to mass-produced their multi-crystal silicon PV cell technology in PV modules around fiscal 2011 (April 1, 2010-March 31, 2011).

Here's another interesting development from our Greenpeace friends in the UK.

According to the group, a 3-year investigation from their researchers found that certain electronic wastes (such as an unfixable TV with a tracking device) are illegally dumped to Nigeria instead of supposedly being recycled to (in this case) the Hampshire County Council.

Greenpeace said the county's recycling company BJ Electronics passed it on as second hand goods and shipped it to Nigeria.

Hampshire County Council said they are disappointed with the findings and will launch a full investigation...as soon as Greenpeace provides a copy of their evidence and footage.

UK recycling company, Electrolink Recycling, immediately put out a statement that they are concern about the allegations even though they are not involved in the Greenpeace investigation. Electrolink said there is more than enough capacity and skills in the UK recycling industry to deal with the European Commission's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations.

The EU WEEE regulations have been under fire recently as it has failed to reduce widespread illegal dumping of e-waste to non-EU countries.

Here is why the coal industry in the Western world is losing their battle over environmental groups.

Videos such as the one below from Greenpeace are spreading the dirtiness of coal across the web using animated graphics. If the coal industry wants to put out the message of being clean and green, they should spend their money making cartoons. Of course that will elicit various response of them greenwashing...

Still there is hope for the coal industry. As soon as CCS technology can be economically commercialized, they can put out an animated ad of their own to replace Mr. Graverson Green.

In fact, UK power provider Powerful Power Ltd. (my tongue just got twisted I think) plans to start operating its new clean coal power station in in Stainforth, South Yorkshire, by 2013 using a carbon capture technology from Honeywell's UOP business.

Honeywell said the new facility will be the first clean-power coal station in Europe and is designed for up to 90 percent overall carbon capture.

In the US, oil company ExxonMobil said it has committed more than $100 million to complete development and testing of an improved natural gas treating technology known as Controlled Freeze Zone (CFZ), which could make CCS more affordable and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

ExxonMobil is building a commercial CFZ demonstration plant near LaBarge, Wyoming, which is expected to be operational in late 2009.

Yesterday's Green Chemistry round table hosted by Elevance was very productive in terms of getting information. I will tell you more in details next week of what some of the panelists have to say about the future of green chemistry, its challenges, potential and how it can help the US economy.

Unfortunately, I have a deadline to catch working on a green building article for ICIS Chemical Business this week, and so here for now are some juicy teasers gathered from the event.

• Clorox's Dr. Andrew Gilicinski, director of Technology Brokerage and Innovation, noted in passing the success of their Greenworks cleaning products line in terms of sales. Clorox launched the line last year and last month, added its biodegradable cleaning wipes. Dr. Gilicinski said (hopefully exclusively to me) that they will launch another green products this summer.

• Elevance and its partner Tetramer is planning to launch two new natural-based wax this year as alternatives to some of the traditional waxes out there that have supply/production issues.They are currently working on alternatives to Japan wax, montan wax, amide wax and metal soaps. Which two of the four will come out this year? We'll soon find out!
  

• Dow Corning's Bill Schulz said they are working on industrial applications of their soy wax technology, which was co-developed with Elevance. Dow Corning started marketing the jointly developed new soy wax products last year for the personal care segment. The companies are also looking to develop performance ingredients from other natural oils aside from soybean oil.
  

The green blogger is in Bolingbrook, IL, right now to cover Elevance's renewable chemistry round table and the opening of their new facility. Fortunately, she's a little bit early so has the time to blog a bit about the current coal situation.

According to New York Times, 83 coal plants in the US have either been voluntarily withdrawn or have been denied permits by state regulators because of the prospect of regulating carbon dioxide emissions concerns and its associated high costs. The article noted that roughly 600 coal-fired power plants in the US are responsible for one-third of the country's total carbon emissions.

Early this month, Las Vegas-based NV Energy postponed its plans to construct a coal-fired power plant in Eastern Nevada because of increasing environmental and economic concerns. The company said it will not move forward with construction of the coal plant until the technologies that will capture and store greenhouse gasses are commercially feasible, which is not likely before the end of the next decade.

There might be a lot of talk about carbon capture and storage helping the coal industry but unfortunately most of them are still in the development phase especially the storage part. You can read more about CCS development in this ICIS Chemical Business article.

Still, the coal people are betting on CCS technology to help them join the ranks of the ever-growing renewable energy industries. According to New York Times, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity spent $38m in ads last year to inform the promise of clean coal and its abundant source in the US.

Environmentalists, of course, are not convinced until the proof is out in the clean, open air.

Several ex-Wall Street bankers turned their financial wizardry into creating green shoes for a good cause, according to this Reuters report.

After being laid off because of the Wall Street collapse, partners Stephen Chen, Iris Chau, and Alastair Onglingswan founded GreenSoulShoes, where local artisans in Southeast Asia make their shoes using recycled scrap tires materials. For each pair of shoes sold, the founders said a pair will be donated to kids from all over the third-world nations. The company's goal is to shoe 1 million kids in 5 years.

The price of their shoes (more like a sandal actually) is $45 and the newly-formed company is making 500 shoes for now so if you want to help, better make a reservation! Once you're done with your sandals, you can return it back to they can shred it to help make pavements and roads in third-world countries.

Cool huh? You can learn more about the company in this video.

Scientists from China and Japan discovered that butterfly wings have scales that act as tiny solar collectors, which can lead to a design of a more efficient dye-sensitized solar cells.

These cells are said to have the highest light-conversion efficiencies among all solar cells -- as high as 10 percent. The discoveries on butterfly wings show that some microstructures on the wings surface are effective solar collectors or blocks. Their laboratory tests showed that the butterfly wing solar collector absorbed light more efficiently than conventional dye-sensitized cells.

Their study appeared in the Jan. 13 issue of American Chemical Society's biweekly journal Chemistry of Materials.

I will be in Illinois on Tuesday attending Elevance's renewable chemistry round table as well as the opening of their new Bolingbrook facility. The round table panelists include Robert Grubbs of the California Institute of Technology, John Warner of Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, David Long of Environmental Sustainability Solutions, Andrew Gilicinski of Clorox Company, Bryce Lee of Alternative Energy Group, and Elevance's CEO K'Lynne Johnson.

That should be interesting and I'll let you know how it goes. For now, here are this week's green news:
Elevance's compostable wax
Elevance Renewable Sciences says certain of its NatureWax™ vegetable wax products, when blended with paraffin, have met universally accepted compost specifications. Elevance collaborated with The International Group, Inc. (IGI) to sponsor the testing.

Big renewable energy user
Dow Corning will purchase more than 14,000 megawatt hours of wind generated renewable energy through Consumers Energy's Green Generation program, making the company one of the largest private purchasers of renewable energy in the State of Michigan.

Samsung seems to be leading the next generation high-tech mobile gadget with its new solar-powered full-touch screen phone "Blue Earth."

The eco-friendly phone, which the company said is the first of its kind, has a solar panel located on its back and its plastic encasement is made from recycled plastic called PCM extracted from water bottles. Samsung said the device and the charger do not contain brominated flame retardants, beryllium and phthalate.

It's packaging is also made from recycled paper and another cool green feature in the phone's interface is its energy-efficient mode as well as the "eco walk" function where users can count their steps with an in-built pedometer to calculate how much carbon dioxide emissions they have reduced as opposed to motor transport (pity they don't calculate public transport). The eco-walk function can also calculate the number of trees the user saved.

Samsung will showcased Blue Earth next week at the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona.

I just finished an alternative energy article featuring chemical companies that contribute on making clean energy technologies more affordable. Companies included in my interviews were Dow Chemical, Rohm and Haas, Air Products, Evonik, and Dow Corning.

Here are some of what they said regarding chemistry and alternative energy:

"While energy is crucial to the chemical industry, the business of chemistry is essential to reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Chemistry makes possible energy-saving products including building insulation, lightweight vehicle parts, thin-film solar panels and wind turbines." - Rich Wells, Dow Chemical.

"The chemical industry is playing a vital role in alternative energy by providing critical materials used today and through cutting-edge R&D that will drive growth tomorrow." - Eric Peeters, Dow Corning.

"Innovation is the key for advanced technology and broad application of alternative energy." - Matt Moynihan, Rohm and Haas.

"How do you capture the energy from solar, wind and geothermal? The answer is hydrogen." - Norma Curby, Air Products.

"We see the chemical industry as a solution-provider. Top-notch, high-tech products are essential to solving environment and climate problems." - Thomas Bates, Evonik Degussa.

ICIS Chemical Business will publish its Energy-featured magazine next week Monday.

Excitement was in the air last month in the sleepy town of Lincolnshire, UK, after a mangled 65 ft. wind turbine blade was discovered. Several local folks blamed it on a UFO attack when some reportedly have seen strange, bright lights near the wind farm vicinity.

Fortunately for Lincolnshire, nobody will be kidnapped by aliens as of yet when two days ago, the turbine components manufacturer Enercon concluded that bolts securing the blade to the hub of the turbine failed due to 'material fatigue'.

"Enercon have ruled out bolt defect due to the nature of the failure and the investigation is now looking into 'supporting components' - those parts on either side of the bolts," the owner of the wind farm Ecotricity said in a statement. "If one of these supporting components failed it would induce stress in the bolts beyond their design limits and cause failure. Further tests are currently being carried out."

Here's a very nice video from Discovery Channel's "How Stuff Works" (love the show!) featuring corn-based plastic and how it is made. Bioplastic producer Cereplast is featured in this show. (Pls. bear the few seconds advertising)

Yesterday, I attended a press conference hosted by BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization) on the launch of a biofuel study conducted by Sandia National Laboratory and General Motors.

In the study, Sandia reported that it is feasible to produce 90bn gallon/year cellulosic ethanol by 2030 to replace one-third of US gasoline demand, which is around 60bn gallons/year. No need to diversify land to grow corn crops; projected capital expenditures of about $250bn will be almost the same as that of future petroleum-related investments of similar magnitude; and infrastructure issues are workable, according to Sandia.

All of those optimistic conclusions of course have to depend on technology advancement of cellulosic ethanol as well as policy incentives. I guess optimism is really badly needed in the ethanol market these days what with the successive news of bankruptcy, plant closing, delayed projects, divestments and slowing R&D (because of tight financing).

GM was also at the press conference and the company reiterated their commitment to the increased use of biofuels and electric cars in the near future. GM said it will boost the number of flexfuel cars that it will sell although it will diversify in terms of alternative fuel options, not just focusing on ethanol.

And to get to the headline of my story, a report conducted by Maritz Research's Automotive Research Group shows the continued growing consumer interests in alternative fuel cars - electric, biofuel, hybrid.

Their data show electric power as a primary alternative fuel among the current choices growing from 3.4% in market share appeal in 2006 to 9.4% in 2008. Appeal for electric vehicles stood at 4 percent in 2006, climbed to 8 percent in 2007, and currently is almost 11 percent among new car buyers and lessees, according to the study.

According to Jim Mulcrone, senior manager for Maritz' automotive research group, "With automakers struggling and renewed emphasis on reducing oil dependence, consumers are eager for innovation. Adding electric and other alternatively fueled models may help spur new growth in automotive spending."

Unfortunately for biofuels, interests in biodiesel and ethanol/methanol seemed to have shrunk a bit last year.

Who says the adult novelty industry is not environment-friendly??

Dreamscapes, an adult business company, said that they are setting "good example" for businesses across the board by getting green certification from the Institute for Green Business Certification (IGBC) Inc. - making them "an environmentally conscious organization" starting January 31, 2009.

Dreamscapes said it is the first of its kind to get green-certified. One of its green company initiatives include preferred environment-conscious packaging and green products from manufacturers.

The company also introduced last year its Sex Toy Recycling program enabling consumers to mail in their old, broken or used (BUT CLEANED!) adult toys.

"It may be some work in the beginning, but its well worth the efforts," said Vice-President Jean Kozlowski.

A recent survey commissioned by certification firm Green Seal and advertising/PR agency EnviroMedia Social Marketing reported that four out five people they surveyed are still buying green products and services despite the current recession.

Half of the 1,000 people surveyed are said to be buying just as many green products now as before the economic downturn, while 19 percent say they are buying more green products.

Around 87% of people surveyed say they recycle although EnviroMedia noted that just 33% of our waste is diverted from landfills as according to the Environmental Protection Agency. (Liar! Liar! You supposedly green people!)

The other things green people do are look for minimally packaged goods (60%) and buy green cleaning products (58%). Buying green personal-care products came in at 31%, according to the survey.

The group Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) reported that nearly one-third of 55 popular brand name food and beverage products such as Quaker, Hershey's, Krafts and Smuckers, are said to contain traces of mercury. IATP said this is because of mercury-contaminated high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) found in most of these products.

On average, Americans are said to consume about 12 teaspoons per day of HFCS, said IATP, as HFCS is used in many processed foods such as in sweetened beverages, breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments.

"Mercury is toxic in all its forms," said IATP's David Wallinga, M.D."Given how much high fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the FDA to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply."

This week, I'm working on a biobutanol article for ICIS Chemical Business so stay tune for snippets of information as I dig deep into this hush-hush (as far as BP and DuPont are concerned) market development.

For now here are this week's news roundup:

SiGNa's new center
SiGNa Chemistry opened its new Alternative Energy Research Center in Davis, California, to support the company's Hydrogen Generator Beta program, which will begin in second quarter 2009. The program will use SiGNa's technology to create a unique hydrogen storage alternative for general industrial hydrogen, and portable fuel cell applications.

3M's Renewables division
3M has formed its new Renewable Energy Division focusing on Energy Generation and Energy Management. The products within the new division will include products currently sold to the industry, new-to-the-world products invented for the renewable energy market, and products adapted from existing technologies.

The green blogger is very sick (101.5 F fever) and so she leaves you for today with recent developments from the US Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS).

One interesting development is the use of the native Southwestern shrub guayule not only as a natural latex but its leftovers called bagasse can also be feedstock for ethanol, bio-oil or syngas manufacture. I wrote an article about guayule and other interesting plant-based alternative chemical feedstock that you can access in this link from ICIS Chemical Business.

Guayule shrubs can first be harvested as early as 2 years after planting, requires less fertilizer than other crops currently produced in the desert Southwest, and guayule bagasse and latex are available year round.

Another development is that the USDA-ARS researchers were able to help farmers lower their nitrogen fertilizer use of corn using crop rotation management. Various crop rotations (using vegetables such as onions, alfalfa, soybeans and even melons) and irrigation systems result in high residual soil nitrogen levels that can provide good corn yields with lower or no annual nitrogen applications.

A new report from consulting firm Kline & Company said that the US natural personal care market will still have healthy growth this year despite the economic downturn.

The market last year was up 19% at over $2bn in sales at the manufacturers' level, according to Kline. Although it is not certain if consumers will still be willing to pay premium for natural and organic products given the current economic condition, Kline noted that major marketers are in good position to compete because of their stronger supply chain negotiating advantage and well-developed distribution channels.

Natural personal care have become more available, accessible and affordable in mass retail channels because of these marketers. Sales for naturally-inspired products that contain natural extracts but still rely on synthetic ingredients for their functional performance have also experienced unprecedented growth, said Kline.

In Europe, the natural personal care market also experienced growth with a 15% sales gain last year on top of a $3bn sales base. Germany still leads the market capturing nearly a third of the total European market sales, according to Kline.

You can hear more about the study on Kline's web conference on Feb. 19 at 9am EST.

[Photo from Eastman]

The US has become number one in installing wind power bypassing Germany last year, according to a recent report from the Global Wind Energy Council based in Belgium. China, meanwhile, has doubled its total capacity for the fourth straight time.

Global wind energy capacity last year was said to have grown by 28.8% reaching a total global installations of more than 120.8 gigawatt. Over 27 gW of new wind power generation capacity came online in 2008, 36% more than in 2007, according to GWEC.

The global wind market for turbine installations in 2008 was said to be worth around EUR 36.5bn ($47.5bn). Here are the stats!

There might be a soy war going on but all soy-loving/producing groups in the US are still working together to help their industry overcome the current economic hardship.

The United Soybean Board (USB), the American Soybean Association (ASA), the Ohio Soybean Council (OSC) and six other state soybean checkoff boards recently formed the Soy Transportation Coalition (STC), which will comprehensively examine some of the major transportation issues impacting soybean farmers and find ways for them to save on transportation costs.

"With all the railroad infrastructure and intermodal developments taking place in Ohio, it is important for OSC to be represented on the STC board," said Patrick Knoff, an OSC and STC board member. "The goals of this organization will benefit all of agriculture. It is my hope that the projects STC is investing in will help level the playing field for agriculture when compared to other industries."

The incoming anti-toxic chemical rules in children's products, which will become effective February 10, is causing several protests this week especially in NYC.

The rules are part of the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) which was passed last year as a result of the massive recalls of toys and other consumer good products tainted with lead and other supposed toxic chemicals.

For lead content and pthalate limit rules, manufacturers and importers are required to issue testing and certification that newly manufactured or imported childrens products for 12 years old and under comply with the requirements.

The problem, according to several manufacturers, retailers and small business owners, is that existing inventory products that have not been tested or certified on their lead or pthalate content should no longer be sold or distributed. Products can include toys, garments, kids' furniture, jewelry, accessories and even books.

2009 started with a lot of new green chemical offerings ranging from the cleaning industry, to automobile and construction. Here are some of the selected ones mostly in the plastic arena.

Hint: If you want your newly launched green chemicals/technology to be included in my monthly list, pls. email the press release to me at doris.de.guzman@icis.com

1. Nissan's eco-paint - Nissan Motor Co. launched in Japan its environment-friendly, water-based paints for aftermarket application under the "PITWORK" brand. The paint is said to contain half the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) compared with conventional paints in the marketplace.

2. NatureWorks new bioplastic - NatureWorks LLC introduced its Ingeo™ 3251D, a new and improved injection molding grade of Ingeo™ biopolymer. The new Ingeo™ grade is designed specifically for the consumer goods segments such as electronics, cosmetics, housewares, toys and custom molding.

Thanks to my colleague Lara McNamee for sharing this article about a study on perfluorinated chemicals and their effects on women's fertility.

According to research scientists from University of California's Department of Epidemiology, exposure to perfluorinated chemicals such as PFOA (perfluorooctanoate) and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) - which are widely used in many consumer products and industrial processes because of their heat resistance and ability to repel water and oil- can lead to increase in infertility for women.

Their study was published in the journal Human Reproduction last week.

Those found with higher levels of PFOAs and PFOS were more than likely to take longer to become pregnant according to the study. Their study also suggests that PFCs might impair the growth of babies in the womb.

According to this BBC report, the researchers were now waiting for further studies to confirm the link between fertility problems and PFCs. Some say the link is tenuous and further research is needed.

As the blog previously reported, several chemical companies are already trying to eliminate PFOAs in their production anyway ever since the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated in 2006 a voluntary stewardship program to reduce human and environmental exposure of the chemical.

The EPA said last year that major producers will be able to meet the industry's 95% PFOA emission reduction target worldwide by 2010. Arkema, Asahi, Ciba, Clariant, Daikin, DuPont, 3M/Dyneon and Solvay Solexis all intend to eliminate emissions and PFOA content in products by 2015.

For PFOS, 3M is the only manufacturer in the US and it already agreed to phase out its production and use of the chemical nine years ago, according to the EPA.

There had been a lot of green news from the InformexUSA tradeshow that colleagues from ICIS filed last week.

According to the director of Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, John Warner, education barriers are preventing chemists from gaining the know-how to produce safer chemicals despite increasing demand for environment-friendly products and compounds.

Most of the attention given to chemistry is said to be negative thus giving the industry a bad reputation for students. Warner said the industry has done a very bad sales job which lessened the industry's efforts in attracting the brightest students.

The Institute defined green chemistry as the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous materials.

California's director of department of toxic substances, Maureen Gorsen, meanwhile, noted the unproductive way of banning chemicals and that the state needs to move beyond it. She said that California needs a state regulation for creating safer chemicals in the first place instead of just banning supposed toxic chemicals that have already been created.

"The state needs to move beyond bans," she said. "The bans do little to alter design of products made overseas."

The green blogger was trying to multitask: writing this post, watching the Superbowl, and eating popcorn. She failed.

The Steelers won and the blogger lost her office pool bet. Oh well...Here is this week's news roundup:

DSM joins green roundtable
DSM Pharmaceutical Products joined the Green Chemistry Institute® Pharmaceutical Roundtable of the American Chemical Society as an associate member. The roundtable promotes sustainable manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) by integrating the principles of green chemistry and engineering into drug discovery and manufacturing.

Waste recycling tech
Catalyx, Inc. successfully piloted its patent-pending Two-Way Osmosis system for recycling of difficult to treat, high biochemical oxygen demand and high chemical oxygen demand carpet dyeing wastewater. Catalyx's eventual goal is to design a system which can utilize the membrane for desalination of seawater.