B&C® Biobased and Sustainable Chemicals Blog

The 5th Annual Bio-Based and Sustainable Chemicals Summit, held last week in San Diego, California, brought together nearly 200 industry leaders to discuss and debate the critical developments the industry is currently facing, including innovative feedstocks, end-user applications, and progress of established and new chemical production platforms and applications. Session topics included "Feedstocks for the Future — Availability and Selection," "Direct Conversion of Biomass...

Following the confirmation of Senator Max Baucus as the next Ambassador to China, on February 11, 2014, Senate Democrats voted to shift the leadership and make-up of impacted Committees. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) will now be the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, while Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) will take over as Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Newly elected Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) will now serve on the Senate EPW Committee....

It is reported that House Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on the Environment and Economy Chair John Shimkus (R-IL) is working on draft legislation to reform TSCA, which Shimkus expects to introduce and on which he expects to hold a hearing in the coming weeks. B&C has issued a memorandum providing an overview of the Subcommittee's fifth hearing on TSCA reform held on February 4, 2014. The memorandum is available online. There is a renewed sense...

On February 10, 2014, the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure convened a field hearing in Charleston, West Virginia, on "The Charleston, West Virginia Chemical Spill." On January 9, 2014, a coal processing chemical, 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM), stored in an aboveground tank owned by Freedom Industries leaked into the Elk River in West Virginia. The leak compromised the water supply to nine counties in the state affecting some 300,000 residents. Due to a...

Kia Motors Corporation announced this week that "the company's new Soul EV (electric vehicle), which will have its world premiere at the 2014 Chicago Auto Show starting later this week, has achieved UL Environment validation for bio-based organic carbon content for 10% of its interior materials. UL Environment is the environmental business unit of UL (Underwriters Laboratories), a global independent safety science company." The Company explained that "[v]arious bio-based...

On February 6, 2014, it was announced that Versalis, the chemical subsidiary of Eni, and Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc., a producer of specialty chemicals from natural oils, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a strategic partnership to jointly develop and scale a new metathesis technology to produce bio-chemicals from vegetable oils. According to a press release by Elevance, "Versalis and Elevance intend to focus on jointly developing and scaling new catalysts,...

The Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG™) sponsored the 5th Annual Next Generation Bio-Based and Sustainable Chemicals Summit, which took place February 4-7, 2014, in San Diego, California. The Summit is considered one of the premier biobased and sustainable chemicals information and networking events for biobased start-ups, global chemical majors, brand owners, feedstock providers, venture capitalists, and academics. This year's Summit provided a detailed overview of...

On February 4, 2014, EPA filed a 113 page brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In its brief, EPA attempts to defend its final rule setting the 2013 RFS in the face of challenges to it by Monroe, the American Petroleum Institute, and American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers. EPA argues that it was reasonable to maintain the total renewable and advanced biofuel levels under the RFS statute for 2013...

Monroe Energy, LLC (Monroe), a refinery and subsidiary of Delta Airlines, has filed another lawsuit challenging EPA's implementation of the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). In this latest suit, Monroe argues that blenders, not refiners and importers, of fuel should be deemed the obligated parties under the RFS. Monroe does not have blending capacity like some larger refiners. Monroe asserts that the fact that EPA in its proposed rule to set the 2014 RFS renewable...

On February 3, 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced that up to $12 million in funding would be made available to advance the production of cost-competitive, high-performance carbon finer material from renewable non-food based feedstocks. Feedstocks could include agriculture residues and woody biomass. This funding supports DOE's Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative. A copy of DOE's press release on this announcement...