ICIS Blogs : r&d

P&G resin wins Green Chem award

Green Chemicals — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:45:49 GMT

This news came in this morning from Procter & Gamble (P&G) Chemicals about their green alkyd resin Chempol® MPS winning this year's EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge award under the category Greener Chemicals Design. The resin is...(read more)

US biorefineries step up capacities

Green Chemicals — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:44:38 GMT

A recent round table hosted by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) produced interesting updates on several biorefineries planned in the US. Participants at the roundtable included Coskata , Zeachem , Genomatica and Genencor . First let's...(read more)

Europe's future chem industry

Green Chemicals — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:55:14 GMT

The European Chemical Industry (Cefic) launched last week its latest sustainability vision project, the F3 Factory , under the EU Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry ( SusChem ). Cefic and its partner EuropaBio created the multi-stakeholder...(read more)

Degradable petro plastics: Your thoughts?

Green Chemicals — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:04:06 GMT

Adding to the confusion of bioplastic definition (see comments on previous bioplastic blog) is another growing sector, the development of biodegradable petroleum-based plastics. I'm sure petroleum-plastics eventually degrade give or take a century...(read more)

SC Johnson's sustainable insecticide

Green Chemicals — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:49:07 GMT

Another addition to my biopesticide saga, although this might be my last this summer. For this post, SC Johnson is making sure that one of their key natural insecticide ingredient, Pyrethrum extracted from the dried flower heads of chrysanthemums, is...(read more)

The challenge of biopesticides

Green Chemicals — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:13:07 GMT

Got the copy of my latest article about biopesticide , with pretty cool (and a little gross) graphic of a venus flytrap. As previously tweeted , I was intrigued by how the biopesticide industry have been struggling in the overall pesticide and crop protection...(read more)

Dow Corning green innovation

Green Chemicals — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:50:47 GMT

As mentioned in this week's news roundup, I attended Dow Corning's worldwide press conference (this one held in New York last week) where part of their agenda is to reinforce the company's goals toward sustainability. Dow Corning is a major...(read more)

Ford invests (again) in green products

Green Chemicals — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:21:00 GMT

Ford Motor Company is going back to its roots (soybeans specifically) and is now further investing in more eco-friendly materials and products for automobile parts - interior components front to back, seat cushions and fabrics, underbody and impact shields...(read more)

Cosmetic suppliers say naturals still hot

Green Chemicals — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:19:49 GMT

As mentioned last week, the green blogger attended this year's annual New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC) Suppliers' Day in New Jersey, and based on interviews that I had with several chemical companies, one trend that continues to be...(read more)

More bioplastic news

Green Chemicals — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:01:35 GMT

Here are more green plastic news from last week. Incidentally, I am preparing for a bioplastic article for ICIS Chemical Business so watch out for that in June. First stop is Coca-Cola's announcement of its new plant-based plastic bottle, 30% of which...(read more)

AOCS wrap-up Day 2

Green Chemicals — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:55:04 GMT

[Photo of AOCS annual meeting 1945. Photo Credit: AOCS] The second day at the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) centennial meeting was particularly interesting as in their Hot Topics Symposia for the morning session, I have to choose between Historical...(read more)

New green chemical developments

Green Chemicals — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:14:53 GMT

In honor of post-Earth Day I am trying to clean up and consolidate all my Inbox's green news releases and so bear with me as I post more updates, this time on new green chemical research and developments. A University of Toronto research team from...(read more)

Linde develops hydrogen from glycerine

Green Chemicals — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:51:31 GMT

Glycerine [or glycerin] is actually the first topic that I covered when I started working for the chemical publishing industry so this subject is somewhat near and dear to my heart. A lot changed in this industry since September 2000 and one of them is...(read more)

Who is Pepsico's plastic maker?

Green Chemicals — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:45:35 GMT

I am trying to guess whose plastic technology PepsiCo uses for its new Eco-Fina water bottle , which is said to be the lightest half-liter water bottle in the market. The new bottled water is now available in retail stores nationwide this month. Pepsico...(read more)

Greening your drugs

Green Chemicals — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:16:00 GMT

Thanks to Tom Nicolay of Research Advantage for the tip on the booming botanical and plant-derived drugs market. According to market research firm BCC Research , the global market for botanical and plant-derived drugs was worth $19.5 billion last year...(read more)