How is the rubber contained in a dandelion’s milky white fluid formed? A team led by scientists from Münster University and from the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, IME, (Münster branch), has now identified proteins which play a key role in the production of rubber in the plant.

The trend towards biopharmcaeuticals poses several challenges for packaging specialists. It will be up to them to ensure the safe commercialisation of sensitive substances.

Separation technology, an important cornerstone in the gentle processing of lupines — The year 2010 — with no particular fanfare in the media, employees of the Fraunhofer Institute found Prolupin. It starts a success story that, thanks to great innovation and strong partners, was awarded the 2014 German Zukunftspreis (Future Prize). And always close at the scientist's side — separator specialist Flottweg. Because only the latest in separation technology solutions can make the processing of lupines possible at an industrial scale.

Is it the end of the oil era? A vision for the decarbonisation of the chemical industry — Chemistry could become almost neutral to climate by 2050, as recent studies show. The price would be, however, enormous: Up to a tenfold of the current investment volume per year had to be pumped into alternative raw materials and process development. Is the dream of green chemicals over before it even began? How realistic is the decoupling of fossil raw materials overall? And what could be done now?

Puma Energy has signed an agreement with the Chishti Group to acquire 51 % interest in Admore Gas. The acquisition will bring the company’s branded retail sites, lubricants, convenience stores and quality fuel product range to the Pakistan market.

In the age of digitization Chemical Distribution is facing new challenge. International trading platform like Alibaba and Amazon Business are changing the rules. Now, the German start up Pinpools has created an independent B2B platform to connect chemical business.

Sourcing and retaining talent has been a challenge especially to the chemical and process industries, which deal with hazards and risks daily. Poised to grow at 11 – 15 per cent, with a future employment potential of five million jobs, the industries deal with this challenge through a systematic competency development – A strategy to make new talent ready and refresh existing practitioners to update,aiming at an empowered work place free of injuries...

Bayer CropScience plans to establish a new breeding center in the Wimmera region, near Horsham (Victoria, Australia), focused on wheat and oilseeds. The company plans to invest around EUR 12 million (AUD 14 million) for the new station in Western Victoria. The target is the development of new varieties with higher yields and productivity improvements tailored to Australian conditions.

India is a power-starved country, whereas the country’s biomass resources (otherwise waste) hold a great potential to address the challenge. About 15 GW of electricity generating capacity could be achieved through adding cogeneration capabilities in various industries including sugar mills, breweries, textile mills, distilleries, fertilizer plants, pulp and paper mills and rice mills.

Nova-Institute publishes the first results of a multi-client market survey of the international bioplastics market: 25 companies have developed production capacity at 30 sites worldwide of over 180,000 tons of polylactic acid (PLA), one of the leading bio-based plastics. PLA is used mainly in packaging, but it also has a large number of other durable applications.