In East Midlands, UK, forestry waste-to-chemicals startup Sonichem has raised €1.4 million ($1.5 million) in a Pre-Series A funding, including a follow-on investment from ACF Investors. The funds will be used to advance its process technology, which is capable of converting £1 of sawdust into £8 worth of biobased chemicals, and to begin planning its […]
In New York, a company converting seafood waste such as shrimp shells into leather alternatives has raised $4.15 million. Founded by textile researcher and designer Uyen Tran, TômTex’s material can be used in place of leather, suede, latex and vinyl. The funds will be used to increase production and add employees. Investors included Happiness Capital, […]
In the United Kingdom and Sweden, researchers from Chalmers University of Technology and the Wallenberg Wood Science Centre claim a 3D printed, wood-based hydrogel could be used to construction homes. Already used in medicine, nanocellulose hydrogels are lightweight, making it a potential infill material for things such as window screens. The Chalmers-Wallenberg collaboration is the […]
In Florida, X-BATT has made a breakthrough in lithium-ion battery technology with the introduction of a composite anode materials made from feedstocks like wood, corn husk, rice husk, and spent coffee grounds. By leveraging agricultural waste products as a low-cost carbon source, X-BATT aims to address the critical mineral shortage threatening the electrification movement by […]
In India, Balrampur Chini Mills, a sugar producer, is investing €222.45 million to build a polylactic acid plant. According to Sustainable Plastics, the plant will have the capacity to produce 75,000 metric tons per year and be India’s first industrial-scale bioplastics plant. The facility will be built next to Balrampur Chini Mills’ Uttar Praadesh sugar […]
In the United Kingdom, Zone3 will soon introduce the world’s first biodegradable wetsuit. Made from Terraprene, a biobased thermoplastic elastomer produced by Germany’s FKuR, the £399 wetsuit is part of Zone3’s Vision line of triathalon gear. Tests have shown that about 30% of the wetsuit breaks down after two years in a landfill. Wetsuits are […]
In London, Breyers will soon introduce a chocolate ice cream that replaces lactose with a whey protein produced by precision fermentation. The new offering was made possible by a collaboration between Unilever—Breyers parent company—and foodtech startup Perfect Day. Breyers says the ice cream has the same taste and texture as ice cream made from dairy […]
In Mexico, design collective Zaventem Ateliers showed that necessity is truly the mother of invention when customs delays meant it had to recreate most of its Unique Design X exhibition furniture collection from cardboard. Based in Belgium, the collective of eight design studios had to produce 35 furniture items from three square meters of cardboard. […]
In Germany, luxury carmaker BMW now offers a 100% vegan interior option for its popular 5 Series Touring model. The seats are made from Veganza, an animal-free leather alternative with a lower climate impact. While the feedstock used to produce Veganza was not detailed vegconomist notes that BMW has been active in biobased materials. In […]
In India, specialty chemical company Perstorp has brought a new, biobased pentaerythritol and penta chemicals production plant online at Sayakha. The site has the capacity to annually produce 40,000 metric tons of pentaerythritol and 26,000 metric tons of calcium formate. The plant is the largest Asian investment in Perstorp’s history, Gorm Jensen, Perstorp’s Executive Vice […]
