Playing catch-up after two weeks. Round-up for biofuels will be posted separately. I seem to be seeing several companies that I have not heard before in recent months — that’s a good sign I think. I hope you all had a nice few days off during the Christmas break!
Cereplast markets algae bioplastics
US bioplastic producer Cereplast announced the commercialization of Cereplast Algae Bioplastics with the introduction of Biopropylene 109D. Biopropylene 109D is an injection molding grade manufactured with 20% post-industrial algae biomatter.The company anticipates generating revenue from the algae bioplastic during the first half of 2013.
Cardia Bioplastics’ Chinese supply contract
Australia-based Cardia Bioplastics has secured a $1.2m/year contract with the Shanghao Pudong City District in China for the supply of its Biohybrid kitchen waste bags. The Cardia Biohybrid resin is made from starch-based thermoplastic combined with a polyolefin material. The contract follows a six-month trial of Cardia’s products in the region earlier this year.
BioBased Technologies buys soy polyol
BioBased Technologies has acquired Rhino Linings Corporation’s Soyol polyol technology assets, which it bought from Urethane Soy Systems earlier this year. In return, Rhino has bought BioBased Insulation, a division of BioBased Technologies. Terms of the acquisition were not released.
Deinove joins European bioplastic project
French biotechnology company Deinove has joined a five-year European bioplastic collaborative project called THANAPLAST that includes members such as green chemistry company Carbios, academic institutions CNRS, INRA, and University of Poitiers, plastic company Group Barbier and agribusiness Limagrain. Denoive will provide access to its Deinococcus collection of microorganisms while Carbios will develop bioprocesses to produce the polymers. Deinove said it has also become a shareholder in Carbios.
NatureWorks partners with Arkema
Altuglass International, a subsidiary of Arkema Group, has signed a global co-marketing deal with NatureWorks to deliver a range of newly formulated bio-based, high performance alloys using polymethylmethacrylate and Ingeo. The new materials, targeting durable goods applications, will be marketed by Altuglass as Plexiglass Altuglass Rnew biopolymer alloys. Market opportunities include signage, lighting, consumer products, transportation, cosmetic packaging and large/small appliances.
Kiverdi selected for NASA project
Next-generation sustainable oil and chemical company Kiverdi was selected as part of a project called LAUNCH: Beyond Waste Innovator founded by NASA, USAID, the US Department of State, and Nike. The goal of project was to identify a select number of “game changing” innovations aimed at reducing waste and/or transforming waste into new products. Kiverdi was one of nine Innovators selected. The company’s Carbon Engineering platform transforms waste carbon from industrial flue gases or gasified waste into low-cost, high-value oils and chemicals.
Infinite Enzymes launches product
Arkansas, US-based biotechnology firm Infinite Enzymes has made its IE-CBHI plant-based cellulase enzyme available for research and development projects through Sigma-Aldrich. The enzymes reportedly lowers the cost of sugar production needed for developing low-cost biobased plastics and advanced biofuels.
Hyrax Energy, WARF license deal
Start-up US firm Hyrax Energy has formed a licensing deal with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) for a novel renewable chemical and biofuel production method that uses ionic liquids to break down cellulosic or non-food plant biomass without using enzymes or costly pretreatment steps. Hyrax, founded in 2011, is currently raising capital and plans to hire a small number of employees in the coming year.
Daicel Polymer’s cellulose bioplastic
Daicel Polymer has developed a new cellulose bioplastics CELBLEN EC produced from non-edible wood resources. The bioplastic are cellulose esters containing 40-50% plant-based materials from wood pulp. General-purpose grade of the bioplastic is already in the market this year while a clear grade and flame-retardant grade will be launched in early 2013.
Xylose from palm waste extracted
Researchers from Singapore-based A*Star Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences has successfully extracted high yields of xylose from empty fruit bunch (EFB) of palm byproducts. EFB is currently incinerated to produce heat and electricity to run palm oil mills. The researchers were able to obtain xylose yields of 80-90% by optimizing conditions such as hydrolization of concentrated sulfuric and phosphoric acids, reaction temperature, dilution solutions and the size of the EFB particles. The xylose sugars can then be converted into lactic acids for producing polylactic acid (PLA).
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