All Knowledge & Insights By Date

LignoTech Developments Ltd. subsidiary Xylemer BioProducts of New Zealand will soon open a new facility in Kearney, Nebraska. The facility will produce biomass-based resins. Distillers grains will be the first feedstocks used, likely followed by sugar beet pulp and rice hulls.

Intuitively, entities in the "biobased" space may think the "naturally occurring" substance exemption under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the law that governs chemical products in the U.S., applies to their "biobased" materials. The scope of the exemption is limited, however, and complications arise when companies mistakenly assume a material is naturally occurring and therefore exempt from TSCA. Learn more about this important issue online.  

The 5th Annual Next Generation Bio-Based and Sustainable Chemicals Summit takes place Tuesday through Friday, February 4-7, 2014, in sunny San Diego, California. The premier biobased and sustainable chemicals information and networking event for biobased start-ups, global chemical majors, brand owners, feedstock providers, venture capitalists, and academics will feature a Keynote address by Kaj Johnson, Green Chef and Senior Director of Product Development from Method, who will speak about...

On December 18, 2013, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) unveiled a detailed summary of staff discussion draft legislation designed to reform current energy incentives under the U.S. Tax Code. In sum, the proposal would consolidate nearly all 42 existing energy incentives under two categories of incentives: technology-neutral tax incentives for domestic production of (1) clean electricity and (2) clean fuels. The detailed summary of the discussion draft acknowledges and requests...

This week, Evonik Industries and LanzaTech announced that they have entered into a three year research agreement under which Evonik will "combin[e] its existing biotechnology platforms with LanzaTech's synthetic biology and gas fermentation expertise for the development of a route to bio-processed precursors for specialty plastics from waste derived synthesis gas. In this route, microorganisms placed in fermenters are used to turn synthesis gas into chemical products." A copy of...

Renewable fuel and chemical company Virent and cellulosic sugar producer Renmatix have announced plans to collaborate to convert cellulosic sugars to renewable chemicals and biobased packaging materials. According to Virent's press release on the effort, "Renmatix's Plantrose™ platform will be evaluated and potentially optimized to provide an affordable sugar stream for Virent's Bioforming® process for the large-scale production of bio-based paraxylene. Paraxylene is a...

This week, three Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), Senators David Vitter (R-LA), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and James Inhofe (R-OK), introduced the General Duty Clarification Act of 2013. The bill would direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clarify standards for the Clean Air Act's General Duty Clause. EPA has used the ambiguity contained in the clause to regulate chemical plants. A copy of the bill is available online.

EPA has requested a report from the National Academies Committee (the Committee) on options that governments, manufacturers, and retailers can use to compare the safety of various chemicals as they analyze potential substitutes for those chemicals. The report is expected early in 2014. During the initial meeting of the Committee last month, a representative from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that an OECD committee has identified more than 80 methods...

On November 25, 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a notice inviting applications for nearly $10.5 million in USDA value-added producer grants (VAPG), which help agricultural producers enter into value-added activities related to the processing and/or marketing of biobased value-added products. A copy of the USDA press release on the announcement is available online, and a copy of the Federal Register notice is available online. The funding notice encourages...

The ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Pesticides, Chemical Regulation, and Right-to-Know (PCRRTK) Committee Newsletter for November 2013 is a special issue devoted to Green Chemistry.  Topics covered include the Federal Trade Commissions's enforcement of the Green Guides, EPA’s Design for the Environment program, Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Reform, and the Green Chemistry Movement, and the role of public disclosure policies in the selection of greener...