September 2009 Archives

Several other chemical companies want to jump into the development of biobased succinic acid, and have announced deals this week

German chemical company BASF today announced that it is joining Dutch-based lactic acid producer CSM for the development of biobased succinic acid. The companies plan to produce commercial quantity and volumes in the second quarter of 2010.

On Monday, Japan-based Mitsubishi Chemical has signed a deal with Thailand-based PTT Public Company Ltd. (PTT) for the development of bio-polybutylene succinate, a bio-degradable polymer, made from biomass feedstock.

Mitsubishi already produces and markets polybutylene succinate, a bio-degradable polymer made from petroleum-based succinic acid. Mitsubishi and PTT will jointly begin market research and aims to complete the feasibility study for establishing a joint venture by the end of June in 2010.

Non governmental organization World Growth strikes back at green groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth stating that their campaigns against the production of palm oil in Southeast Asia are damaging the economic and environmental benefits that this industry is giving to developing countries.

"Palm oil is a highly sustainable, energy efficient crop, generating nearly 10 times the energy it consumes -- compared to a ratio of 2.5 for soybeans and 3 for ripe oilseed. More importantly, its production has been commended by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank as effective in alleviating poverty in the developing world," says World Growth Chairman Alan Oxley.

Ford researchers are hoping to develop 100% petroleum-free automotive plastics to make it to make cars totally compostable - as long as they don't compost while being driven of course. In fact, decomposition is one of the 3 main challenges that Ford is trying to overcome since bioplastic (e.g. polylactic acid) is designed to decompose quickly.

Maybe bioplastic developers can design a time-activated material where vehicles have expiration date and that's when decomposition process starts??

Other challenges that Ford researchers are looking for solutions include less moisture absorption (since natural fiber-reinforced plastics are more likely to absorb moisture causing durability concerns), and odor problems.

Despite those challenges, biobased/recycled materials are already being used in several Ford vehicles:

• Soy-based polyurethane foams on the seat cushions and seatbacks on the Ford Mustang, Expedition, F-150, Focus, Escape, Escape Hybrid, Mercury Mariner and Lincoln Navigator and Lincoln MKS.
  

• Soy-foam headliner on the 2010 Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner.
  

• Underbody systems, such as aerodynamic shields, splash shields and radiator air deflector shields, made from post-consumer recycled resins such as detergent bottles, tires and battery casings.
  

• 100% postindustrial recycled yarns in seat fabrics on vehicles such as the Ford Escape. The 2010 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan Hybrids feature 85% postindustrial yarns and 15% solution-dyed yarns.

Possibilities include replacing glass fibers with natural fiber reinforcements made from cellulose, soy protein, hemp fiber, flax fiber and other bio-based materials; and PLA bioplastics for vehicle carpeting, floor mats, upholstery, and nondurable auto applications such as protective wrappings used during vehicle manufacturing and transit.

See previous post "Green Car Inside Out" and "Biobased auto parts growing" for more on biobased products development news in automotive application.

The green blog will be sparse this week due to deadlines from my other job (writing for ICIS Chemical Business). Coming soon (hopefully very soon) for the blog is my recent coverage of BASF's green education building summit; update on the wind market; China and green; and recent reports about enzymes and soy chemicals.

Stay tune! For now here are this week's news roundup:

Dow Chemical in 3rd gen biodiesel
Cavitation Technologies (CTI) has formed a deal with Biocombustibles y Energias Alternativas (ALS), which is also a partner of Dow Chemical, to develop third generation biodiesel technology projects in Argentina and throughout Latin America. ALS has identified several projects where CTI technology can greatly improve process yields and profitability using CTI and DOW proprietary technology.

Teijin's recycling in China
Teijin has launched in China its first-ever program for collecting and recycling used garments in collaboration with sports apparel company Li Ning Company Ltd. Teijin will use its ECO CIRCLE recycling technology for the chemical recycling of polyester.

Polymers in biofuel engine
Magneti Marelli has chosen Rhodia's Technyl® to produce the air intake manifold and the fuel rail of the C4 and the C5 2l biofuel engines in Brazil. The polyamide 6.6 is said to be high temperature-resistant and providing good permeability resistance for under-the-hood applications of the new vehicles.

Canada's Ontario government wants green chemistry in their industrial landscape, and is investing $13.6m (on top of a $9.1m award earlier this year) in the establishment of a research center to develop and commercialize green chemistry technology.

The GreenCentre Canada is said to be the first of its kind in North America bringing together leading green chemistry researchers, industry partners, and commercialization professionals to develop cleaner, less energy-intensive solutions for traditional chemical products and manufacturing processes.

The Centre, to be located at Queen's University, is said to have already received more than 50 technology disclosures from researchers across Canada for review. Companies involved in the Centre include NOVA Chemical, PolyCorp, Fielding Chemical Technologies, , Pressure Chemical, and Albonia Innovative Technologies.

GreenCentre Canada aims to manage the commercialization of 50 Green Chemistry technologies, leading to at least 10 licence agreements, and to establish at least 6 start-up companies. They also anticipate the creation of at least 250 highly skilled jobs in short term. The Centre will be fully operational by 2010.

[Hat tip to the Green Underworld Reporter for this news!]

Chemical companies are clamoring to proclaim their energy efficiency success and I got several emails asking why they were left out from my ICIS Chemical Business' August 17 article "Optimizing Energy - Chemical firms lower energy use with new technologies."

Since the blog has unlimited space (I think) and that article only has 2 pages to fit, here are several other energy efficiency initiatives from chemical companies within the past year:

Rhodia:
The company said it was able to reduce energy use and carbon dioxide emissions at its Blue Island, IL, production facility simply by "challenging assumptions about standard industrial practices," according to Operations and Maintenance Manager Nathan Mills.

The facility's natural gas consumption was reduced by 40% over the past 2 years, and some production batches are run with up to 30% less heat. Additional energy savings came from recovering the heat naturally generated by production and using it in place of conventional heating methods during winter months.

Rhodia plans to launch several more energy efficiency projects in the near future.

Bayer MaterialScience:
Bayer says its IMPACT technology for polyether production processes dramatically improved the company's Channelview, Texas, plant by reducing 80% in energy consumption and eliminating 75m lbs/year of wastewater.

The company says the technology is being considered for implementation worldwide as plants are being upgraded or constructed. The key to the new process, according to Bayer, is a combination of a catalyst invention and the design of a novel process where low molecular weight materials react preferentially in a mixture of molecular weights.

ExxonMobil:
ExxonMobil installed in March its newest high efficiency cogeneration plant at its Antwerp, Belgium, refinery, and says that it has invested in over 1,500 megawatts (MW) of cogeneration capacity in five countries since 2004.

Cogeneration is the simultaneous production of electricity and useful heat or steam used for industrial processes. This results in lower operating costs and significantly less greenhouse gas emissions.

Antwerp's new cogeneration plant is capable of generating more than 125 megawatts of electricity. ExxonMobil says additional new facilities are under construction in Singapore and China and will increase the company's cogeneration capacity to more than 5,000 megawatts in the next three years.

Seems to me that solar is shining bright again from the recent activities I saw the past few weeks. Interestingly enough, most of the news are coming from chemical companies that developed new materials to make photovoltaics more efficient and cheaper.

• BASF presented its Seluris range of cutting fluids products for cutting, etching, texturing and doping mono- and polycrystalline solar cells; and COLO-Fast® polyurethane casting system for more economical and secure framing of photovoltaic and solar panels.
  

• Dow Electronic Materials launched its ENLIGHT™ photovoltaic products, which the company said, increase solar cell efficiency and yield, improve device performance at low cost, and enable faster adoption of solar energy as a renewable energy alternative. The products are used on PV cleaning, imaging, texturizing, and metallization. Dow Chemical's adhesives and functional polymers business also presented its Adcote™ solventless adhesives for photovoltaic backsheet applications.
  

• Dow Corning says it just commercialized a breakthrough solar cell encapsulation technology that improves performance and effectively lowers the cost per kilowatt-hour of solar power. The PV-6100 Encapsulant Series are said to provide an ultra-transparent layer of protection for the solar cell in a panel and can replace incumbent technologies.

• Mitsubishi released its UJ6 series of high-efficiency polycrystalline photovoltaic modules. The new cells have four bus bars, said to be an improvement over traditional two bus bar cells, and are designed for medium- and large-scale commercial installations.

• Arkema presents its Apolhya™ Solar, a nanostructured thermoplastic polymer for the encapsulation of new generation photovoltaic modules. One key advantage is its processing, which requires no curing, says Arkema. The product saves time in the production process, while making end-of-life panels very easy to recycle.

• Wacker Chemie launched its TECTOSIL®, a plastic film designed for the encapsulation of photovoltaic modules, and is made out of a thermoplastic silicone elastomer that is pliable when heated, making it fast and easy to process. The company also showcased new silicones for PV applications from its ELASTOSIL® Solar product line.

• DSM says its KhepriCoat™ anti-reflective coating system has contributed to achieving the highest energy conversion ever of a full-size solar module.

Starting September 30, manufacturers, purchasers and government agencies can soon evaluate how green and sustainable plastics are via a new "Plastic Scorecard" developed by nonprofit group Clean Production Action (CPA) and sustainability consulting firm Pure Strategies.

The Scorecard rates plastics from F to A+ on a set of criteria that simultaneously advance sustainable raw materials, green chemistry and closed loop systems, according to CPA. The criteria for moving up the spectrum toward "preferred plastics" were selected to progressively increase the sustainability of the plastic at each stage of its lifecycle -- from feedstock production and manufacturing to use and disposal.

"The Scorecard is essentially a decision-making tool aimed at improving the design of plastic products," said CPA's Research Director Mark Rossi. "As more and more consumers demand products that do not include toxic chemicals, companies, governments and environmental organizations need a way to assess the environmental preferability of the various alternatives."

September seems to be the month of who's who and top rankings. ICIS Chemical Business (the company I work for) released last week its Top 100 Chemical Companies; Cleantech Group and the Guardian had its list of 100 global clean technology companies; the International Fuel Quality Center (IFQC) updated its ranking of the top 100 countries based on sulfur limits in on-road diesel; and Dow Jones also updated its list of top sustainable companies worldwide under its annual Sustainability Index.

This week, Newsweek launched its first ever list of Top 500 greenest companies in the US based on companies' actual environmental footprint, policies and practices. Newsweek says the rankings also factor in the results of an exclusive reputational survey of CEOs, corporate social responsibility officers, members of the media, academics, and members of key environmental groups.

The top ten greenest companies include:

1. Hewlett-Packard Company
2. Dell Inc.
3. Johnson & Johnson
4. Intel Corporation
5. IBM
6. State Street Corporation
7. NIKE, Inc.
8. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
9. Applied Materials, Inc.
10. Starbucks Corporation

And by Sectors:
Top 3 greenest pharma companies:

1. Johnson & Johnson
2. Bristol-Myers Squibb
3. Allergan

Top 3 greenest industrial (general) companies:

1. ITT
2. 3M
3. Eaton

Top 3 greenest commodity materials/chemicals companies:

1. Praxair
2. Eastman Chemical
3. Celanese

Top 3 greenest oil and gas companies:

1. Marathon Oil
2. Smith International
3. Schlumberger

Top 3 greenest consumer products companies:

1. Nike
2. Johnson Controls
3. Avon Products

Undertaking a list of who's who in the green chemistry start-up field is a little bit difficult to do as for one thing, promoting their business takes money, and they would rather invest their money in developing their technologies first before spreading out their name. Of course, they still have to get out and get money from the investment world so that's when we (the media) hear snippets of information of who are entering this growing sector.

Here, for example, is a new company based in Menlo Park, California, called Rennovia, (thanks to my informant from the green underworld *lol*). This early stage green chemical development company recently raised $6 million in startup funding from 5AM Ventures and Versant Ventures, as noted in their Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.

The company did not disclosed what renewable-based chemicals it will make but according to earth2tech.com, Rennovia will reveal more details in a website that they will launch in the next week or so.

According to Rennovia's co-founder Tom Boussie, in a Reuters interview, the company will focus on making chemicals, not fuels as "margins are higher, volumes are lower and the capital barrier for the same return on investment is lower."

I'm sure we will hear more from this company soon enough!

By the way, I listed down some of the green chemistry start-up companies that I've encountered so far (in no particular order). I am not sure if I should include pure-play next generation biofuel developer but maybe I should put them in another category. Let me know what you think and if there are others that I've missed:

• Amyris Biotechnologies

• Novomer

• Elevance Renewable Science

• Metabolic Explorer Entreprise de chimie biologique

• Metabolix: Bio-industrial Evolution
  

• Draths Corporation
  

• Virent Energy Systems, Inc.
  

• SiGNa Chemistry
  

• Genomatica
  

• Segetis
  

• Myriant Technologies

• BioAmber
  

• Verdezyne Inc
  

• OPX Biotechnologies
  

• Tetravitae Bioscience
  

• Green Biologics
  

• ZeaChem Inc.
  

• SynGest
  

• Enerkem
  

The green blogger needs a vacation...badly! I am getting a lot of information which I can't even post in the blog due to multitudes of deadlines. But I will try really, really hard to post some of them this week. In the meantime, check out my article this week about China's renewable energy market on ICIS Chemical Business. My article on next generation liquid biofuels will be out on October 5, so stay tune for that.

Another announcement is that ICB has a new facebook page (which I designed myself) where you can check out all our blogs, article links, videos and even twitter snippets. Be a fan! (Pleeaase! lol!).

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

BP divests India wind biz
BP is selling its wind power interests in India, BP Energy India Private Limited (BPEIPL), which owns and operates three wind farms in India with a total generating capacity of approximately 100 megawatts, to Green Infra Limited. BP said it will concentrate its global wind development activities in the US.

Owen's green glass fiber plant
Owens Corning will re-start its glass fiber reinforcement manufacturing facility in Vado, Italy, during the fourth quarter, which has been converted to the company's patented boron and fluorine-free Advantex® technology platform. The platform offers smaller environmental footprint compared with standard E-glass processes.

Eco2 relocates plastic recycling plant
PET plastic recycler ECO2 will relocate and upgrade its current production facility in Riverbank, CA, to a new location in Northern California. The company has begun dismantling existing equipment and a total of 47 employees were laid off.

Environmental group WWF is giving a green thumbs-up approval to industrial biotechnology stating that not only could it reduce up to 2.5 billion tons/year of CO2 emissions by 2030, it could also help create a true 21st century green economy.

"Low carbon biotech solutions are a good example of hidden or invisible climate solutions that are all around us already today but are easy to overlook for policymakers, investors and companies." says John Kornerup Bang, Head of Globalization Program at WWF Denmark and coauthor of the report.

The need for strong public policies was also emphasized. Novozymes says close to 200 biorefineries are already operating in the US.

"In a few years sugar will be the new oil," says Steen Riisgaard, CEO of Novozymes. "Industrial biotechnology today is a sector with a number of pioneers who are demonstrating that this is technically feasible. However, to make the biobased economy into reality, they will require political backing."

The green blogger is certainly familiar with US tallow and grease producer Darling International given that she pestered them every week between the year 2000 and 2006 for pricing information. Hopefully, their new venture into the renewable diesel market with oil company Valero Energy (via its subsidiary) will work out.

According to Darling, the joint venture plans to build a 135 million gallons/year renewable diesel production facility on a site adjacent to Valero's St. Charles refinery in Louisiana. The plant will use waste grease and maybe other feedstock.

Now you might be wondering what brought this on given that biofuels are still slightly struggling in the marketplace. But the renewable energy funding and loans from the US Department of Energy is making sure biofuels investments are still on track and the Darling-Valero joint venture is taking advantage of it.

The companies, however, did not indicate how much loan they're getting from the DOE.

This is not the first time that oil companies are collaborating with animal fats producers for producing renewable diesel. ConocoPhillips and chicken fat producer Tyson announced their joint venture in 2007 to produce renewable diesel as well. Unfortunately, ConocoPhillips suspended the project in late 2008 because of unfavorable economics and lowered federal tax credits.

ConocoPhillips said it will continue to monitor economic conditions to determine whether resuming production becomes feasible. Tyson, meanwhile, is still going ahead with its 75m gal/year biofuels plant in Louisiana in joint venture with another oil company Syntroleum. The plant will start up in 2010.

[Photo source: IStockphoto.com]

The beauties might get their bioplastic (see last post on Miss USA) but the brawns are commending the use of recycled plastic in their military bridges.

According to an email from Axion International, they have just completed construction of two 100% recycled plastic bridges for the US Army stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The bridges are specifically engineered to allow for the crossing of armored military vehicles.

Axion said its patented structural-grade reinforced plastic building materials are
an emerging technology for use in load-bearing construction as alternative to treated wood, steel or concrete bridges and other infrastructure such as railroad crossties, bridge infrastructure, marine pilings and bulk heading.

The plastic bridges at Fort Bragg used 84,828 pounds of recycled plastic including the equivalent 508,968 one gallon milk jugs and juice containers, according to the company. A third bridge at Fort Bragg is being planned because of the cost-savings benefit according to the US Army.

Axion's technology, by the way, was developed in conjunction with scientists at Rutgers University.

The green blog has been neglected these days and to compensate (especially for the male readers..Lol) here's a very important news about bioplastic invading the beauty pageant industry.

According to the Miss America Organization, it has partnered with Nature's Bottles to promote their bioplastic-based bottled water made from NatureWorks' Ingeo polylactic acid resin.

Nature's Bottles noted the use of 2.5 billion barrels/year of oil for making plastics. The company said more than 60 million petroleum-based water bottle plastics end up in landfills every day.

"We are excited to partner with an innovative and exciting new company, Nature's Bottles(TM), to promote one of the most important and socially relevant causes that face our future generations," said Art McMaster, President and CEO of the Miss America Organization.

A very exhausting but productive weekend for the green blogger covering Lanxess' first World Rubber Day celebrating the centennial anniversary of synthetic rubber. There was talks about issues on rubber recycling and possible development of biobased synthetic rubber but for Lanxess, that is not yet in their portfolio, according to CEO Axel Heitmann.

Lanxess, however, noted that the use of synthetic rubber in materials use in renewable energy markets such as wind turbine, photovoltaic cells and fuel cell are increasing with growth seen between 5% and 10%/year. Reducing fuel consumption by improving rolling resistance of tires is also synthetic rubber's recent developments when it comes to contributing to sustainable mobility, the company said.

More about Lanxess in my incoming article for ICIS Chemical Business. For now here are this week's news roundup:

Activated carbon for Hg clean-up
MeadWestvaco Specialty Chemicals has formed a strategic alliance with Albemarle to supply the company activated carbon for its portfolio of total mercury removal solutions to the power industry. The alliance launches MeadWestvaco as a commercial supplier to this emerging market.

Hybrid resin patent
Cereplast has been granted patent protection for its Hybrid Resins® from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The resin's composition formulation is designed primarily for durable plastic application, which was initially developed by two researchers at the University of Arkansas.

Daewoo buys wind business
Composite Technology Corporation's subsidiary DeWind Inc. has sold all of its operating assets and liabilities, including its subsidiaries and certain assets of DeWind Ltd., to Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME) of Korea. CTC and its subsidiaries are no longer in the business of developing or manufacturing wind turbines and most of the DeWind employees transferred to DSME.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) is making sure they're fighting for our nation's cause the right way...by going green.

DoD's Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) recently awarded algal-based biofuel developer Solazyme and camelina-based biofuel manufacturer Sustainable Oils contracts for R&D and manufacture of their products.

Sustainable Oils will supply this year 40,000 gallons of camelina-based jet fuel to the DESC's Naval Air Systems Command fuels team and will support the Navy's certification testing program of alternative fuels. The contract includes an option to supply up to an additional 150,000 gallons of camelina-based jet fuel.

The company said they have already demonstrated their camelina biofuel in Japan Airlines' historic biojet demonstration flight last January and in a Boeing U-787 hydroplane in Seattle last month.

Solazyme, meanwhile, has been selected to produce algae oil-derived F-76, a Naval distillate similar to diesel fuel and is the primary shipboard fuel used by the Navy.

The company's contract includes both R&D and fuel delivery components and calls for delivery of 20,055 gallons of Soladiesel®F-76 Renewable Naval Distillate fuel to the Navy for compatibility testing over the next year.

Solazyme said this program will eventually lead to the certification of Soladiesel®F-76 Naval distillate for commercial sale to the U.S. Military.

Both contracts are valued at a total of $11.2m. DESC said they expect more contract announcements coming soon.

An interesting and very cool idea coming from Florida-based Solar Energy Initiatives Inc. on setting up job training for laid off/out-of-job workers as solar energy installation and maintenance technicians in Jacksonville.

The company's "Renew the Nation" campaign is being funded in part ($396,000) by the federal stimulus program American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The City of Jacksonville has partnered with Solar Energy for the program. The first class, according to Solar Energy will begin in late October.

The company is also training solar dealers that will sell and install solar systems to homeowners and commercial customers. Of course we wouldn't want phony and incompetent sales people to haphazardly install solar panels in our roofs.

I just hope these new trainees will get jobs as soon as possible so as not to waste their newly acquired skills.

[Photo from University of Buffalo]

These are definitely information not to be wasted (lol!) if you are into renewable energy.

First stop is Europe where according to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, the region is the largest waste-to-energy plants market in the world with over 429 plants installed last year. This market earned EUR 3.1 billion ($4.5bn) last year, Frost $ Sullivan said.

Major drivers for this growth include the European Union's Landfill directive and growing demand for green energy. France and Germany are said to have the largest number of waste-to-energy plants.

Market research company BCC Research estimated the global market for thermal and biological waste-to-energy (WTE) technologies at $19.9 billion last year. It is expected to increase to $26.2 billion in 2014, for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6%.

Europe is said to be the largest with 48% share followed by the Asia-Pacific region accounting for 31% of the global market. North America and the rest of the world account for 11.0% and 10% of the global market, respectively.

Thermal WTE plants generate energy in the form of steam or electricity, while biological WTE plants produce methane or biogas that can be liquefied, compressed or converted to heat or electricity.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), meanwhile, is looking at municipal food waste to be diverted away from landfills into energy resource. The EPA this year awarded the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) with a grant to investigate the benefits and limitations of anaerobically digesting food waste from restaurants, grocery stores, and other food handling facilities.

An EBMUD study found that the methane production potential of biosolids was 120 m3 gas/ton and food waste around 367 m3 gas/ton. Anaerobically digesting 100 tons of food waste per day, five days a week, can reportedly provide sufficient power for approximately 1,000 homes.

The EPA said food waste is the second largest category of municipal solid waste sent to US landfills each year, accounting for 18% (30 million tons) of the waste stream.

Here are other recent news and announcements on waste-to-energy developments:
1. Natural Fuels Industries Eyes 'Biomass Rich' Georgia for Production Facility

2. Green Energy Resources Lands U.S. Biomass Power Plant Supply Contract Valued at Over $300 Million

3. Turning Organic Waste Into Energy by Green Inc. Blog of NYTimes

4. From Refuse to Refueling: Linde and Waste Management Discuss Landfill Gas to LNG Plant

5. Waste Management and Terrabon Announce Investment Agreement for Waste-To-Fuel Conversion Technology

Here's another preview of the incoming ICIS World Oleochemicals Conference in Berlin on October 20-21.

Consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, who will present at the conference, recently put out a study about the Southeast Asian oleochemicals market and how this market is expected to expand downstream activities from the basic fatty acid and fatty alcohol to meet demand from the Asian consumer market (food, beverage, cosmetics, personal care, pharma).

Rising consumption in India and China are also expected drivers for Southeast Asian oleochemicals growth.

Frost & Sullivan estimates the fatty acid segment revenues reached $1.85bn last year and is expected to reach $2.51bn in 2015. The fatty alcohol segment reached $652.4mn in 2008, expected to reach $712.6mn in 2015, and refined glycerin market earned $162.9mn in 2008 and is expected to reach $190.7mn in 2015 due to the growing demand from new applications.

Frost & Sullivan's global program manager for specialty chemicals, Robert Outram, will present about the future of oleochemicals at the ICIS conference.

"The once healthy climate change bill soon might be a candidate for end-of-life counselling, its fate perhaps already sealed by a death-panel of congressional Democrats more fearful of constituents' ire and fire than global warming."

India ships biodiesel
AE Biofuels through its subsidiary, Universal Biofuels Pvt. Ltd., has completed a $3 million shipment of biodiesel to a large European customer produced from its 50 million gallon per year biodiesel production facility located in Kakinada, India.

Algae Asian negotiation
Negotiations are underway with BioCentric Energy Holdings for an exclusive licensing agreement for the manufacture and use of BioCentric's Patent Pending Algae Pro Closed loop Photobioreactor System in Asia. Terms, licensing fee and the country in question are confidential at this time.

Economical 2nd gen ethanol
Fulcrum BioEnergy has successfully demonstrated the ability to economically produce renewable ethanol derived from garbage. The company plans to start its first large-scale project, the Sierra BioFuels Plant, located in Nevada by 2011.

You think I'd forget this segment of the blog didn't you? I was afraid the last weeks of summer will not produce enough green chemical product launch for August and will have to scrap this one for the month but fortunately, innovation is still active even during the lazy weeks of summer.

Here they are in no particular order:

1. Honeywell green refrigerant - Honeywell said its new low-global-warming-potential refrigerant HFO-1234yf for mobile air conditioning can now be imported and used in Japan without volume or use restrictions.

2. DSM bio-engineering plastic - DSM launched EcoPaXX™, a bio-based, high performance engineering plastic based on polyamide (PA) 410, a long chain polyamide based from castor oil.

3. Henkel coating for rPET - Henkel introduced its Latiseal® B7707AR water-based heatseal for recycled polyethylene. The coating is 100% VOC-free.

4. Soybean-based toner - West Point Products will soon sell its AgriTone soy-based toner for select HP laserjet printers. The toner contains 60% biobased resin made from soybean.

5. Solvay powers lithium ion batteries - Solvay introduced a new series of Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) for increasing capacity of lithium-ion batteries. First grades of the new PVDF Solef® series are now commercially available.

6. Henkel's bactericide-free fluids - Henkel has developed a water-miscible, bactericide-free cutting fluids that reportedly decrease health risks to employees and successfully implement prospective EU Biocides Regulations.

7. AkzoNobel solvent-free surfactant - AkzoNobel introduced Berol CLF®, a synergistic surfactant blend that provides low-foaming water-based degreasing performance said to be superior in many cases to solvent-based cleaning formulations, but without the VOC hazard.

Preceding ICIS Chemical Business' automotive feature on October 5, here's a glimpse of some of the green technologies being developed (and commercialized) by chemical companies for the automobile industry.

DuPont just announced today that its joint venture company DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products now have the approval of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) for the use of its 100% renewably-sourced Susterra® propanediol (PDO) as a base coolant for all automobile coolant systems.

The corn sugar-based PDO is said to consume 40% less energy and reduces 56% in greenhouse gas in its production compared to the petroleum-based product.

"Production of 100 million pounds of Susterra® can save the energy equivalent of 10 million gallons of gasoline per year. Susterra® is also certified as readily biodegradable based on an Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Guideline Test for Biodegradation," says Ron Rawlins, business development manager, DuPont Tate & Lyle.

The approval, according to Rawlins, offers coolant manufacturers and suppliers an alternative glycol coolant base that functions effectively to provide protection against freezing, boiling, corrosion and cavitation.

Researchers from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), meanwhile, said that they have already developed plant-based biodegradable additives for auto lubricants and greases. The bio-additives are said to be suitable for use in formulating greases; engine oils; and hydraulic, transmission and drilling fluids.

U.S. demand for additives, according to the USDA, is already at nearly 2 billion pounds/year and is expected to increase 2%/year for the next five years.

Maybe that's why bio-lubricant/additives and green motor oil products manufacturer Green Earth Technologies have been busy developing and launching new products. GET said their products have passed the qualification tests and warranty requirements for Robin America, Inc.'s Subaru Engines for their 4-Cycle G-OIL(TM) green engine oil.

Lubricants marketer Parman Lubricants said they are now offering recycled motor oil in Tennessee produced by Safety-Kleen. The green motor oils called EcoPower has been used by state trooper cruisers, military combat vehicles and emergency vehicles for years, according to Safety-Kleen.

The company said it has collected more than 225 million gallons of used oil and recycled 145 million of it into base oil products for re-use in the marketplace.

The blog also recently posted about the growing use of biobased car parts from the BIO Industrial biotech conference in July. Check out last year's ICB automotive feature as well!

[Photo from watchmojo.com]

Eyewear manufacturers like what they see when it comes to renewable-based chemicals.

According to Japanese chemical company Teijin, their new plant-based heat-resistant bioplastic BIOFRONT will be the first bioplastic to be used for all plastic parts of an eyeglass frame. The frames were developed in collaboration with Tanaka Foresight Inc., which Teijin said manufactures and sells around 60% of all plastic eyeglass parts in Japan.

Tanaka Foresight expects to soon sell between 50,000 and 100,000 pairs of BIOFRONT eyeglasses per year. Teijin said that conventional polylactide bioplastic has been used for eyeglass nose pads but not for other parts such as frames and temples because of insufficient heat resistance.

BIOFRONT is said to offer heat resistance comparable to that of oil-based plastics. It is also said to be highly resistant to bleaching and bacteria, making it ideal for the plastic parts of eyeglasses.

The company plans to mass produce 5,000 tons of BIOFRONT in fiscal 2010.

Meanwhile, other eyewear manufacturers, Revo and Smith Optics, have already been using recycled materials (in Revo's case) and plant-based materials (for Smith Optics). Revo recently featured its new 100% recycled pre-consumer nylon plastic Revo Re-Use technology, which is incorporated into select frames within the company's new Revo Polarcast collection.

Revo Re-Use sunglasses are now available at all Sunglass Hut locations in the US.

Smith Optics, meanwhile, have teamed up with French specialty chemical company Arkema for its new Evolve sunglasses collection featuring Arkema's Rilsan Clear G830 Rnew technology. The technology is composed of 54% bio-based raw material derived from castor oil.

It saddens us to see one of ICIS' pioneer blogs, Big Biofuels Blog, by Simon Robinson closing down but the good news is that the Green Chemicals blog will now officially cover biofuels as well as part of ICIS' efforts to send out more information about the business of green chemistry and sustainability.
Look out for future posts on algae, waste-based biofuels, new alternatives (biobutanol, cellulosic ethanol, jatropha biodiesel), and so much more! Coincidentally, I just finished my article for ICIS Chemical Business about China's renewable energy sector (that include biofuels) coming out on September 21, and will soon start about next generation fuel for automotive coming out on October 5.

As Simon says, ICIS is also constantly covering the biofuels market with its pricing reports on biodiesel, ethanol and ETBE, as well as news streams from ICISnews.

Also check out past (free) articles from ICIS Chemical Business this year covering biofuels:

1. Brazilian ethanol attracts bioplastics investors

2. US industrial biotech industry optimistic on funding from US Obama administration

3. Asia's palm oil derivatives market takes a hit from biodiesel and oleochemicals

4. EU tariffs on US biodiesel spark debate

5. Europe losing global battle for biorefineries

6. Biofuels impact on food prices is challenged

7. Second-generation biofuels need work

8. Europe's biofuel industry frustrated at lack of progress on legislation

9. Financial crisis hits biofuels industry hard

10. Biobutanol development makes headway

A new energy efficiency standards released by the Department of Energy (DOE) will soon reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 9.6 million metric tons from 2012 through 2042 coming from around 2.3 million beverage vending machines in the US.

This is almost equivalent to removing more than 2 million cars from the road for a year, according to the DOE. The efficiency standards will be effective in 2012 and will apply to glass-front type and solid-front type beverage vending machines found in office buildings, schools, colleges, retail sites and manufacturing facilities.

Best of all, owners of the machines cans ave $38m and $52m per year in energy costs!

The DOE also released new energy conservation standards for dishwashers, general service incandescent lamps, microwaves, electric and gas kitchen ranges and ovens, general service fluorescent lamps, incandescent reflector lamps, commercial boilers, and air conditioning equipment.

[Photo from Allposters.com]

Researchers from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that the corn byproduct corn germ, which is usually converted into animal feed can also be used as a protein extender for plywood glues.

Glue extenders reduce the amount of main binder, or resin, used in such glues and enhance their adhesive action, the researchers said.

Conventional extender for most plywood glues is industrial-grade wheat flour but wheat price spikes prompted the search for alternatives. The USDA said the bonding strength as well as viscosity and mixing properties of the corn-germ-based glue are comparable to that of the wheat-flour-based formula.

The researchers hope to increase the content of corn germ used in the glue to try and reduce the amount of resin needed, which would cut manufacturing costs.

Trade union United Steelworkers (USW) is calling for the phaseout of hydrogen fluoride, an acid used as a catalyst in the alkylation unit for high-octane petroleum production, stating that the chemical is health hazard to workers in petroleum refineries.

The demand for the ban comes at a time when several petroleum refineries this year had incidents of HF release including last month's incident at ExxonMobil refinery in Joliet, Ill. According to the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), recent reported releases include those at the CITGO refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, on July 19, 2009, and at the Sunoco refinery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 11, 2009.

USW said solid-state catalysts offer a safer alternative but are currently at the pilot plant stage and have not been used commercially yet for the alkylation process. One-third refineries reportedly used hydrogen fluoride while the other two-thirds use sulfuric acid as a catalyst.

"Hydrogen fluoride turns into hydrofluoric acid when it is in contact with moisture and becomes an extremely corrosive liquid and contact poison that burns skin, tissue and eyes. It rapidly penetrates tissues and can cause systemic toxicity, damaging the heart and lungs and causing death. Under the right conditions, a large release could form a lethal plume of acid vapors that could extend for miles downwind, putting thousands of people at risk." - USW

The group also plans a mid-September meeting between the local and international union, the Sierra Club and Citizens for Environmental Justice in Corpus Christi, Texas.

USW claims to be the largest industrial union in North America representing workers employed in metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, atomic energy and the service sector.

[Photo from HazmatHelper.com]

This month, soy-based toner under the brand AgriTone is now available in replacement cartridges for select laser printers, according to the Ohio Soybean Council (OSC).

In partnership with Battelle, OSC develop the soy toner technology, which is licensed by Advanced Image Resources, Inc. (AIR). The company manufactures a soy-based resin, called BioRez, which contains 60% biobased products. The resin is said to be a vital component in the production of the toner.

West Point Products is now selling the AgriTone premium replacement toner cartridges, a series of remanufactured laser toner cartridges containing toner that is 35% or more biobased. Last year, the company collected more than 900,000 cartridges through its Empty Core Collection Program and recycled more that 1 million pounds of raw materials from its manufacturing process

The AgriTone product will be available for the following printers:

HP LaserJet 4200 series
HP LaserJet 4300 series
HP LaserJet 4345mfp
HP LaserJet 4250/4350 series

According to Battelle, the 2007 worldwide toner market was $17 billion. If the entire market were to utilize soy-based toner, 302.4 million pounds of soybean oil would be needed. This equates to 26.8 million bushels of soybeans.

Now that's a lot of edamame!

Ok, I did promise to post another news roundup yesterday but unfortunately I had to scramble to get back into the "work" mode after a week of vacation bliss. This week is also my deadline for my China alternative energy article (coming out on September 21) as well as preparing for an alternative transportation fuel article that will come out in ICIS Chemical Business' October 5 automotive feature. Stay tune for those!

But the blog still have this week's news roundup...

Biomass ammonia coming soon
SynGest has chosen The Weitz Company to provide engineering, procurement and construction services (EPC) for its first plant to manufacture BioAmmonia (anhydrous ammonia) fuel and fertilizer from corn cob biomass near Menlo, Iowa.

Corn pellets for fuel
Next Step Biofuels has started commercial-scale production of PowerPellets™
from corn stover at Loup Valley Alfalfa's pelleting facilities in Burwell, Neb. Next Step plans to sell corn stover PowerPellets to coal-fired power plants and
cellulosic bio-refineries worldwide.

PolyOne distributes castor resin
PolyOne will now carry the full range of extrusion and injection molding grades in Arkema's Rilsan® PA11, Rilsan® PA12 polyamide resin portfolio, along with all grades of Pebax® thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) except USP Class VI materials. Rilsan® PA11 is a high-performance polymer derived from castor beans.