Chemical Industry Weekly Innovation Round-up, October 21

Industry leaders including Ian Hudson, president/DuPont in EMEA and Stephan Tanda, board member for DSM, are meeting this week at the European Forum for Industrial Biotech (EFIB) in Edinburgh, U.K. This article details the latest news from the meeting including a video interview with Tanda and analysis of the key concerns of chemical firms operating in the biotech area. Tanda accuses the European Union of not having enough ambition when it comes to the transformation form fossil fuels to renewable feedstocks. 

Blog by Alex Scott: A bumpy, slow transformation to biomaterials?

The U.S. chemical industry is in a transformative phase due to its ability to introduce innovative technologies, according to KPMG in a new report.

 Albemarle says it has completed building R&D facilities in Korea

Solvay and Korean Partners Invest €26 Million in Technology Venture Capital Fund. Solvay says it will participate jointly with Korea Venture Investment (Seoul) and AJU IB Investment (Seoul) in the Korea Advanced Materials Fund, a technology venture company.

Siluria, a San Francico-based start-up that recently gained recognition for demonstrating technology to convert methane directly to ethylene at low temperatures, says it has raised over $13 million in Series A funding.

Beyond Chemicalweek...

Effects of hydrogen on growing carbon nanotubes. In Science Daily, researchers demonstrate greater control over the shape of nanotubes.

Transgenic corn suppresses European corn borer, saves farmers billions How transgenic corn's suppression of the European corn borer has saved Midwest farmers billions of dollars in the past decade, reports a new study in Science.

Chemists simplify biodiesel conversion How chemists have optimised the conversion of waste vegetable oil into biodiesel, eliminating the need for corrosive chemicals.

Efficient, inexpensive plastic solar cells coming soon Scientists have discovered new properties in a material that could result in efficient and inexpensive plastic solar cells.