Towards a bio-based economy: Essent joins BE-Basic
Essent will be joining BE-Basic, an international public-private partnership established by the Delft University of Technology. BE-Basic focuses on developing the green technologies that are necessary to establish a bio-based economy.
Peter-Paul Schouwenberg (Essent, left) and Luuk van der Wielen (BE-Basic) at the Amercentrale, the Netherlands's biggest biomass-fired power plant
Reducing the dependence on fossil fuels makes the transition to a bio-based economy an important issue. In this economy, biomass becomes both the fuel for generating energy and the raw material for making chemicals and other products such as plastics, medicines, and building materials. As a part of BE-Basic, Essent is committed to developing and researching renewable biomass as a fuel for the production of green energy.
"We have over 20 years of experience in producing green energy from biomass, and have already done research on the uses of new types of biomass such as plant waste, agricultural waste, or organic waste", said Peter-Paul Schouwenberg, Project manager Bio-based economy at Essent. "In order to transition to these types of biomass on a large scale, their availability and accessibility need to be well understood. And that is what we are committed to doing as part of BE-Basic, in addition to developing a widely-supported system of certification. In this process, we will gladly be making use of the expert in-house knowledge that BE-Basic already has".
"We very much look forward to working closely with Essent", said BE-Basic director Luuk van der Wielen. "Because of BE-Basic’s strong emphasis on chemicals, materials, and the environment, this partnership is a welcome and necessary addition to an integrated approach towards transitioning to a bio-based economy. That is why we are happy to have all of the relevant sectors on board. In addition to the leading players in the chemical and materials industry (DSM, AkzoNobel, CSM/Purac) and the environmental/agricultural sector (Bioclear, BioDetection Systems, BLGG and others), Essent’s participation means that the energy sector is now also soundly represented. This is an important step forward.”
Bio-based economy offers new opportunities
The bio-based economy offers new opportunities in the Netherlands for employment, the knowledge economy, agriculture, the chemical industry, and the energy sector. Because of the Netherlands’ central location and its strong logistics sector, Rotterdam has the potential to become Europe’s largest biomass port.
About BE-Basic
BE-Basic is an international public-private partnership (coordinated by the Delft University of Technology and funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs) between universities, research institutes, and companies in the field of sustainable chemistry and ecology. BE-Basic’s mission is to develop bio-based industrial solutions for a sustainable society.
More information
Download the whitepaper: ‘Natural Power’ – Essent’s view on the bio-based economy
Published: 12 September 2011