Chemical Industry Weekly Innovation Round-Up, November 18

From Chemical Week:

Dow AgroSciences and the U.S. Department of Energy have created "industrially relevant" levels of omega-7 fatty acids that could be used to make plastics. Video below.

Total is developing a coal-based petrochemical complex in China in joint venture with China Power Investment Corporation.

Umicore is establishing a business alliance with Dyesol to develop, market and produce the latter company's solar cells.

LanzaTech, a New Zealand-based start-up, has signed an agreement with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to use syngas-derived 2,3 butanediol in jet fuel.

Beyond CW:

A post in The Hill's Congress blog makes the case for greater federal investment in biofuels in the U.S.

China's rush to reduce its carbon intensity is having unintended consequences, as planned black-outs force factories to switch to dirty back-up generators, in MIT Technology Review.

'Targeted mutation' is changing the debate on biotech and genetically engineered crops, the New York Times reports.

And here's DOE researcher John Shanklin on the using plants to make plastics: