IEA Bioenergy Webinar – Biobased chemicals – a 2020 status update

Moderator: Bert Annevelink Senior Scientist Biomass Chains at Wageningen UR – Food & Biobased Research	Ed de Jong Vice President Development Renewable Chemistries at Avantium

Over the last decade the deployment of renewable biochemicals has been disappointing. While the production of ethanol has grown rapidly, the deployment of other renewable molecules has not shown the same rate of production growth. This webinar gives an overview of the current status of bio-based chemicals. It concludes that without support from governments, it is simply too easy to continue to use plentiful and cheap non-renewable sources of carbon to produce biochemicals. Current government settings are not sufficient to reach the Sustainable Development Scenario. Technology continues to improve and there are a multitude of exciting opportunities to deploy equivalent or superior products into the future in the field of biochemicals. However, renewable substrates are more expensive to procure and process than their fossil counterparts. To deploy, biochemicals will require a combination of mandates, carbon pricing and a reduction in fossil fuel subsidies if the market is to drive meaningful deployment over the next decades.

Click here to view webinar including discussion and questions.

Download presentation: Biorefinery Biobased Chemicals by Ed de Jong