French biotech start-up Afyren is partnering with Mitr Phol, the world’s third largest sugar producer, to form a 70-30 joint venture biorefinery in Thailand.
New levers for controlling plant biochemistry identified [Registered]
Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a new level of regulation in the biochemical “machinery” that plants use to convert organic carbon from photosynthesis into a range of ring-shaped aromatic molecules. This opens up new strategies for controlling plant biochemistry for agricultural and industrial applications.
E. coli engineered to produce melanin nanoparticles [Registered]
Photothermal therapy (PTT) has attracted considerable attention for tumour treatment due to its unique advantages in minimal invasiveness and spatiotemporal selectivity.
Conagen scales-up biobased production of super expensive ‘royal’ dye [Registered]
The biotech start-up Conagen has successfully scaled up the production of its sustainable, cost-effective Tyrian purple – a historically coveted and expensive dye found in rare and limited sources in marine nature.
Germany – CropEnergies to build biobased ethyl acetate plant [Full subscriber]
Crop Energies plans to build a commercial-scale plant to produce ethyl acetate at the Zeitz Chemical and Industrial Park, Elsteraue, Germany. Feedstock will be ethanol produced from biomass.
Futerro plans to build PLA biorefinery in Normandy, France [Full subscriber]
Belgian bioplastics manufacturer Futerro plans to build Europe’s first vertically integrated biorefinery in Normandy, France, to produce polylactic acid (PLA).
USA – USDA funds US$9.5 million for three biobased products projects [Full subscriber]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on December 20 an investment of $9.5 million to support the scale-up of three biobased product projects. The three successful projects are funded through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Bioproduct Pilot Program, which funds research and development of value-added products from agricultural commodities.
E. coli engineered to produce itaconic acid [Registered]
Researchers at Spain’s Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), in collaboration with researchers at Pohang University of Science and Technology in Korea, have developed an improved itaconic acid production process through metabolic engineering.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae engineered to produce the prized fragrance molecule sclareol [Registered]
Researchers at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce sclareol.
LanzaTech partners with Sumitomo Riko to produce isoprene from recycled rubber waste [Full subscriber]
LanzaTech and Sumitomo Riko are partnering to reuse rubber, resin and urethane waste to produce a key chemical intermediate, isoprene.
Monthly Snapshot
March raw sugar settled at 20.33 cents per lb by 1245 GMT on Dec. 19, while the March white sugar settled at US$557.40/tonne. March raws 2.5% in the previous week […]
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