Continuous progress
The combination of net zero needs and the Ukraine invasion has begun to drive exponential change in the chemicals manufacturing area. As in other industries – for example, the move from gasoline and diesel cars to electric vehicles – it will produce winners and losers.
Plastic packaging tax
In 2018, the UK government shared its 25 Year Plan[1], setting out the steps envisaged to tackle environmental issues, notably plastic waste. After several years and consultations, the plastic packaging tax (PPT) was developed to incentivise businesses to use recycled plastic in the manufacture of plastic packaging as opposed to virgin plastic. It came into effect in April 2022 and – as of 1 April 2023 – charged at a rate of £210.82/t, rising to £217.85/t from 1 April 2024.
Wake up and smell the cellular coffee
A coffee brewed from plant cells in a lab in Finland has been chemically appraised for its aroma and flavour and compared with conventional coffee.
Carbon nitrides are forever
An international group of scientists has discovered a near-unbreakable material that could be used in a range of applications, from coatings to solar panels and photodetectors.
AI vin-vestigates: chemists pinpoint wine origins and vintage
The geographic origins of vintage wines can be pinpointed through chemical analysis, a study shows. This was achieved with a new approach that combines machine learning and gas chromatography to identify the estate perfectly and the vintage with up to 50% accuracy.
Growth for biologics
Overall demand for biologics is expected reach 4.4m L by 2027, up from 2.5m L in 2022, with a growth rate of 11.5%/year and capacity increasing during the same time to 8.4m L, up from 6.55m L in 2023.
EC lists critical medicines
The European Commission has published its first ever list of critical medicines. It includes both innovative and generic medicines for human use, covering a wide range of therapeutic areas such as painkillers and vaccines.
Falling behind
In the race to build capacity for European battery production, the UK has not been at the front of the pack. The past couple of years have seen projects being announced and then falling by the wayside, in many cases due to a lack of consistency in the UK Government’s approach. There have been promises of funding support which have then melted away.
Graphene that reads minds
Researchers at the University of California San Diego, US, have unveiled a neural implant that peers deep into the brain from its surface. This transparent, flexible strip packed with graphene electrodes opens a new frontier in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), offering high-resolution data on deep neural activity without invasive procedures.
Diving for uranium
Scientists at China’s Northeast Normal University (NENU) have devised an efficient way to extract uranium ions from seawater. Uranium ions could be a sustainable fuel source to help generate nuclear power as currently uranium is extracted from rocks, and ore deposits are finite.