Plant-based sugars become raw materials for plastics: UPM secures Avantium patents

UPM is the first company to commence industrial production of chemicals derived from lignocellulosic biomass

19-May-2026 - UPM announces that it has reached an agreement with Avantium N.V. to acquire the intellectual property related to Avantium's Ray Technology®, a process for the production of bio-based mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) and mono-propylene glycol (MPG) from plant-based sugars. The transaction comprises ...

Innovative plant to turn wood into biochemicals

First of its kind plant lays groundwork for production of consumer goods with reduced CO2 footprint

04-Feb-2025 - Industrial services provider Bilfinger enters into a 6-year framework agreement with UPM Biochemicals covering comprehensive maintenance services for a new, sustainable production plant: At its Leuna site, UPM Biochemicals is currently building the world’s first biorefinery for the production of ...

Thrifty trick for bacterial plastic upcycling

Implementation of a newly discovered metabolic pathway increases the CO2 efficiency of PET-utilizing bacteria

13-Feb-2023 - Scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Marburg have developed a more efficient, carbon dioxide-conserving route to upcycle ethylene glycol, a constituent of the plastic PET. They enhanced the metabolism of the bacterium Pseudomonas putida with a novel route taken from marine microbes, ...

Chemocatalytic approach for one-pot reaction of cellulosic ethanol developed

14-Jun-2019 - Scientists at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a chemocatalytic approach to convert cellulose into ethanol in a one-pot process by using a multifunctional Mo/Pt/WOx catalyst. This approach opens up an alternative avenue for biofuel ...

"Molecular scissors" for plastic waste

15-Apr-2019 - A research team from the University of Greifswald and Helmholtz-Zentrum-Berlin (HZB) has solved the molecular structure of the important enzyme MHETase at BESSY II. MHETase was discovered in bacteria and together with a second enzyme - PETase - is able to break down the widely used plastic PET ...

Sculpting with graphene foam

18-Jun-2018 - Rice University scientists have developed a simple way to produce conductive, three-dimensional objects made of graphene foam. The squishy solids look and feel something like a child's toy but offer new possibilities for energy storage and flexible electronic sensor applications, according to ...

Nanoscale islands dot light-driven catalyst

06-Oct-2017 - Individual nanoscale nuggets of gold, copper, aluminum, silver and other metals that capture light's energy and put it to work are being employed by Rice University scientists who have discovered a way to build multifunctional nanoscale structures. The structures have an aluminum core and are ...

A plastic-eating caterpillar

26-Apr-2017 - Generally speaking, plastic is incredibly resistant to breaking down. That's certainly true of the trillion polyethylene plastic bags that people use each and every year. But researchers reporting in Current Biology on April 24 may be on track to find a solution to plastic waste. The key is a ...

A new form of light

Scientists have discovered a method to create fluorescent light that may have promising applications

06-Oct-2016 - Glow-in-the-dark stickers, weird deep-sea fish, LED lightbulbs -- all have forms of luminescence. In other words, instead of just reflecting light, they make their own. Now a team of scientists from the University of Vermont and Dartmouth College have discovered a new way that some molecules can ...

Profitable End of Sanctions: Ceresana Analyzes the Petrochemical Industry of the Iran for the First Time

01-Apr-2016 - In January 2016, the United Nations and the European Union abolished numerous sanctions against the Iran: A country with more than 75 million consumers returns to the global market now; business relations are normalizing step by step. All industries can profit thereof, especially the ...