BP Forms Cellulosic Ethanol Alliance with Verenium
BP says it has entered into a partnership with Verenium (Cambridge, MA) for the development and commercialization of cellulosic ethanol. During the first 18 months of the alliance, the companies will operate as a Special Purpose Entity (SPE) that will be equally owned by both companies and will license...

THE 5-MINUTE INTERVIEW: Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General, and Executive Director UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
I’d like to see the chemical sector doing more… research and development on nature-based chemistry; the way microbes, fungi, plants and animals have evolved and perfected, over billions of years, super efficient and novel ways of harvesting sunlight up to making substances that appear to avoid antibiotic resistance; in short, the field of biomimicry....

REC Silicon Secures Almost $1 Billion of Silane Gas Supply Deals
REC Group (Sandvika, Norway), a silicon gas and solar materials producer, says its silicon division has entered into an undisclosed number of “significant long term agreements” for the supply of monosilane gas to major gas distributors. The deals, which run through 2014, are worth a combined...

Only 19% of U.K. Biofuels Meet Environmental Standard
U.K. government body the Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA; St. Leonards-on-Sea, U.K.) in its first monthly report on the supply of biofuels in the U.K. has identified that between mid-April to mid-May only 19% of biofuels sold in the U.K. met its minimum environmental standard. The environmental standard includes...

EU and UN to Combine Carbon Credit Registration
The European Union (EU) and the United Nations have disclosed that by year-end they plan to connect their respective systems for registering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions credits. The connection means that carbon credits issued under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) can...

Novel Electrolyte Opens Door to Cool Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells
Researchers led by Jacobo Santamaria of the applied physics department at the Complutense University of Madrid (Madrid) say they have developed an electrolyte for solid-oxide fuel cell that operates at ambient temperature, hundreds of degrees below that of conventional solid-oxide fuel cells.   The...

Monsanto Seeks Buyer for Controversial Milk-Boosting Drug
Monsanto disclosed today that it is looking for a buyer for its bovine milk boosting drug Posilac recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST). Monsanto did not disclose if it was yet in talks with a prospective buyer or how much it is seeking for the business.   Monsanto says product safety concerns among...

EU Proposes to Revise Legislation for Ozone Depleting Chemicals
The European Commission this week has proposed to revise its legislation for protecting the ozone layer. The proposed changes to the legislation are designed to improve the implementation of the existing regulation by clarifying some of its provisions, such as those on exemptions and derogations relating to...

Electronic Chemicals: Voltaix Secures Funding from Intel for Capacity Expansions
Voltaix (Branchburg, NJ), a producer of specialty chemicals for the electronics sector, says it has received $12.5 million in financing from Intel’s venture capital arm Intel Capital. Voltaix says it will use the funds to accelerate it plans for expanding manufacturing capacity for products used in...

Briefing Paper: Cefic's Long-range Research Initiative (LRI)
Cefic's Long-range Research Initiative (LRI) is part of the chemical industry’s programme to address societal concerns and boost understanding of the long-term impacts of its products and processes. LRI was set up in Europe in 1998 by Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council and is celebrating its...