Page 163 - CW E-Magazine (2-7-2024)

News from Abroad

PARTNERSHIP
Syngenta and InstaDeep to deploy AI to accelerate

crops seeds trait research

Swiss agrochemicals major, Syn- effective solutions to challenges facing
genta, has announced that its seeds agriculture,” said Mr. Gusui Wu, Global
business is joining up with AI (artificial Head of Syngenta Seeds Research. “The
intelligence) company, InstaDeep, to potential of LLMs to understand the lan-
bring Syngenta’s proprietary trait R&D guage of DNA opens new opportunities
capabilities together with UK-based to gain insight and to more quickly
InstaDeep’s Large Language Model deliver traits farmers need to enhance
(LLM) platform to accelerate the deve- and protect yields,” he noted.
lopment of solution-providing crop
traits for farmers. Mr. Karim Beguir, InstaDeep CEO
genes are regulated, potentially enab- and Co-Founder, added, “We are exci-
InstaDeep has developed a state- ling a new level of trait control and crop ted by AI’s potential to discover and
of-the-art language model, AgroNT1, performance. deliver new traits critical for advancing
trained on trillions of nucleotides from a more sustainable, resilient, and pro-
agriculturally relevant crop species, “We are excited to collaborate with ductive food system.”
to interpret the complex language of InstaDeep and bring forward insights
the genetic code. This next-generation from advanced AI to accelerate the The initial phase of the collabora-
AI technology learns from nature and advancement of our proprietary trait pipe- tion will focus on AI-mediated trait
was designed to accurately predict how line, enabling us to bring innovative and design for both corn and soybeans.
FOCUS ON RENEWABLES
OMV Petrom moves ahead on $750-mn SAF facility

for Petrobrazi

OMV, the Austrian oil, gas and petro- will allow adjusting the products mix emissions compared to conventional
chemical group, has announced that its according to market demand and the avail- fuels. Ms. Christina Verchere, CEO OMV
majority owned OMV Petrom SA of able feedstock mix. The plant will have Petrom, said, “We are moving forward
Romania has taken final investment decision an annual consumption of about 11,000 with our transformation, in addition to our
(FID) to build a new plant for production tons of hydrogen, most of which will be new renewable power projects, we have
of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and provided by the two new green hydrogen taken a decisive step towards decarbo-
renewables-based diesel at the operator’s production units. The investment for the nising transport in Romania. In total, by
4.5-million tonnes per annum (tpa) Petro- two green hydrogen units is estimated at 2030, we are committing Euro 11-bn to
brazi refinery in southeast Romania, near around Euro 190-mn, of which up to Euro transform the company for a lower carbon
Ploiesti City. 50-mn is from European funds, through future, both in Romania and the region.”
the National Plan for Recovery and Resi-
The proposed plant will be equipped to lience (NPRR). Petrobrazi is the first refinery in the
process a mix of biofeedstock to produce a country certified to produce SAF and
combined 250,000 tpa of SAF and hydro- The two units will have a total capacity HVO through the co-processing of bio-
genated vegetable oil (HVO; biodiesel), of 55-MW, with a total annual production logical raw materials. In order to ensure
including by-products such as bio-naphtha of green hydrogen estimated at around access to a safe source of raw materials
and bio-LPG, OMV said. The investments 8,000 tons. Integrating green hydrogen to produce biofuels, OMV Petrom has
for this unit amount to Euro 560-mn. into sustainable fuels, such as sustainable acquired a 50% stake in Respiră Verde, a
aviation fuel and renewable diesel, will player in the collection of used cooking oil
The high flexibility of the installation result in at least a 70% reduction in CO in Romania.
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Chemical Weekly July 2, 2024 163

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