International Sugar Journal

Dongsung partners with UPM to develop biobased polyurethane – with UPM investing €750 million in commercial scale plant [Full subscriber]

South Korea-based Dongsung Chemical is partnering with Germany’s UPM Biochemical to develop renewable products from biobased raw materials, initially for footwear.

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UK – British Sugar plans to build a pilot plant to produce animal feed from Spirulina [Full subscriber]

British Sugar has lodged a planning application to build a pilot plant at its Wissington sugar factory site in West Norfolk to elicit the viability of producing algae-based animal feed ingredients.

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Camelina engineered to produce moth pheromones for insect pest control [Full subscriber]

Researchers at Lund University, Sweden, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, China, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA, ISCA Inc, Brazil and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences bioengineered Camelina, a flowering plant related to canola with seeds rich in fatty acids, to produce a sex pheromone molecule secreted by two damaging pest species: female diamondback moths (Plutella xylostella) and cotton bollworms (Helicoverpa armigera). This will likely pave the way for reducing the cost of producing pheromones.

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Toray produces biobased adipic acid from cellulosic sugars [Full subscriber]

Toray Industries Inc. announced on August 24 that it has developed the world’s first 100% biobased adipic acid, a raw material for nylon 66 (polyamide 66), from cellulosic sugars derived.

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A comprehensive map of biochemicals production via metabolic engineering [Full subscriber]

Researchers at The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), led by Professor Sang Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, organized and distributed via the web an all-inclusive listing of chemical substances that can be synthesized using microorganisms which researchers can source.

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Bluestem Biosciences raises US$5 million for producing chemicals via fermentation platform [Registered]

The US-based biotech start-up Bluestem Biosciences has secured US$5 million in seed financing to pursue the production of chemicals via anaerobic fermentation.

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Genomatica and Aquafil commence pre-commercial production of biobased nylon-6 [Full subscriber]

US-based biotech company Genomatica and its partner, the Italian nylon maker Aquafil completed the first demonstration of multiton production of biobased nylon 6. The plant is located at an Aquafil facility in Slovenia.

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Escherichia coli engineered to produce lutein [Full subscriber]

Researchers at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed a bacterial strain that can produce lutein. The researchers applied systemic metabolic engineering strategies, including substrate and electron channelling, to increase lutein production in a genetically engineered Escherichia coli strain.

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MycoWorks biomaterial produced from mycelium exploited by luxury hatmaker Nick Fouquet [Full subscriber]

The biotech start-up MycoWorks announced on 18th July that the luxury hatmaker Nick Fouquet unveiled the first commercial products made with its Reishi™, a bovine alternative derived from the mycelium of a wood-decaying fungus.

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Biosyntia secures €11.5 million funding to produce biobased vitamin B7 at commercial-scale [Registered]

The Danish biotech start-up Biosyntia has secured €11.5 million in funding from a strong syndicate of capital investors to support the production of natural ingredients for use in beauty and nutrition products such as vitamins and antioxidants via a precision fermentation platform.

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