Participants Experience the Transitions at Port of Moerdijk

You can read more about the major puzzle piece, the new upgrader factory, through the following link.

Jayand Baladien, Commercial Director of the Port of Moerdijk and representative of the GCNE team cluster for West Brabant, opened the afternoon session and provided valuable insights into the circular biobased strategy of the Port Authority. Specifically, there are 30 hectares of industrial land available in the port for circular industries, with important criteria including:

• sustainability & circularity
• cluster strengthening
• sustainable land use
• port-related activities
• innovation
• safety

Jayand also emphasized his personal ambition to contribute to the resource transition and illustrated perfectly that we are not just a group of organizations, but that it is about people and personal motivation to make progress. That is what matters in the group of GCNE participants!

As a hub of European logistics and circular chemistry, Port of Moerdijk acts as the regional connector together with BOM, REWIN, RWB, and the Green Chemistry Campus. Port of Moerdijk is closely tied to the Green Chemistry, New Economy (GCNE) program.

Also inspiring was how the group of frontrunners and new participants in GCNE elaborated on their organizations, transitions, and scaling up, emphasizing the added value of collaborating with the GCNE network. All new participants can be found through this link.

Eric de Vries, business developer recycling at HVC, introduced this waste processor and talked about their activities as a raw material supplier in new innovative chains.

Gijs van der Zanden, director and owner of ChemXpro, the engineering firm that takes a slightly different approach. With people from practice and great diversity, they are the chosen partner to mitigate project risks and support technology development and scaling.

Hans van Klink, project director of DSD, discussed this innovative tech startup with a unique process to entirely convert a sugar beet into fermentable sugars as a raw material for chemistry. The technology has been extensively demonstrated on a pilot scale, and Hans is now seeking investors for the next step: a commercial demo plant. Not without pride, we can mention that DSD recently won the Industry Innovators Award from TKI Energy and Industry at the POR/ISPT event.

Danny VanCoppenolle, sales and business development manager at Bureau Veritas, spoke about the services of this multinational with 8,200 employees, ranging from certification to laboratory testing and inspections. In the resource transition, they are a very important player capable of providing valuable advice and services while staying updated on various developments and projects.

Christophe Cappuyns, business development manager at Alfa Laval, discussed the products of this renowned equipment supplier in the fields of heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling. In the new innovative chains required for the resource transition, the purification of streams and process optimization always play a significant role, and expertise in this area is therefore highly valuable.

Olaf van Baal, CIO of Cosun Beet Company, took us into the wondrous world of the “unbeatable beet.” The company processes 11 million tons of biomass annually, benefiting from decades of experience. In addition to food and energy (biogas), significant attention is also paid to biobased products.

Nicole van Klaveren and Leonoor den Ottolander from &flux prepared a fantastic duo pitch for us. In this, they demonstrated how &flux provides advice, guidance, and support in both energy and resource transitions, working from vision and strategy to action with a keen eye for impact and results.

Roel Vleeschouwers, business development manager at VITO, talked about the focus of this Research and Technology organization (the Flemish equivalent of TNO) on the following five sustainable themes: Chemistry, Land Use, Health, Energy, and Material Management. The activities are geared towards developments from TRL 2 to 7. In the Netherlands, VITO is known for its involvement in the Biorizon program, which has been developed into the world-leading program for biobased aromatics together with TNO.

Bram van der Drift, CTO of Synova, explained how this innovative pyrolysis technology can effectively handle feedstock from mixed plastics and biomass such as DKR350. This recycling technology has a favorable CO2 effect and can produce polyolefins or aromatics, thus operating directly downstream from the cracker.

There was one wildcard for the pitches, filled by Rob van de Sluis, who introduced Avantium (now part of the GCNE participant group). The catalysis business unit provides services and (high throughput) testing for third parties. Additionally, Avantium develops its own technologies such as FDCA/PEF biobased polymers and the Dawn technology for bio-refining.

GCNE Accelerates the Sustainable Transition in Chemical Manufacturing

Arnold Stokking, chair of the GCNE board, provided an introduction to GCNE (see attached PDF). The mission, vision, structure, and objectives were clearly outlined along with plans for 2024 – 2026. The focus is on chain formation, financing, policy, collaboration with game changers, corporates, government, investors, and knowledge parties. There was a lively dialogue with the audience, which led to further refinement of the activities.

GCNE Policy Focus

Björn Koopmans, the specialist and leader in the GCNE team focusing on (European and national) policy, provided an update on activities related to waste end, level playing field, and the policy contact group (see attached PDF). Björn also collected valuable input from the group through a mentimeter session to shape GCNE’s activities in terms of regulations and policies.

The meeting was aimed at GCNE participants and companies considering joining as future participants. Want to learn how to register as a potential future participant? click here.

For inquiries, please contact Joop Groen or the GCNE team via the contact page.