March 2010 Archives

I guess the "persuasive" power of Greenpeace is stronger than it seems as two more global food conglomerate, Nestle and Cargill, have followed Unilever's footstep in dropping Indonesian palm oil producer Sinar Mas as their supplier.

Unilever dropped Sinar Mas last year December after Greenpeace alleged in a report that the company is engaging in illegal deforestation and peatland clearance in Indonesia. Unilever said it also conducted an independent audit of its major suppliers, which revealed several areas of concerns regarding Sinar Mas.

Nestle confirmed in a March 17 statement that it has replaced Sinar Mas with another (unidentified) supplier as well. Nestlé said it has only bought from Sinar Mas for manufacturing in Indonesia, and no palm oil bought from Sinar Mas has been used by Nestlé for manufacturing in any other country.

"We will continue to pressure our suppliers to eliminate any sources of palm oil which are related to rainforest destruction and to provide valid guarantees of traceability as quickly as possible." - Nestle

Cargill said it is waiting response by the end of April from Sinar Mas with regards to the Greenpeace allegation. The company has also urged the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) board to look into the allegation. 

"If the RSPO validates the allegations of improper land conversion or illegal planting in deep peat land as alleged in the Greenpeace report and Sinar Mas does not take corrective action, we will delist them as a supplier." - Cargill

Cargill's goal is to buy 60% of their total crude palm oil from RSPO members by the end of 2010.

No rest for the weary, that's all I can say... Here are this week's news roundup that was supposed to be posted on Monday:

Camelina and coal in jet fuel
Accelergy Corporation and Great Plains Oil & Exploration - The Camelina Company have joined forces in the development of biojet fuel made from blended camelina oil and coal using a coal biomass-to-liquid (CBTL) technology. The technology has been proven at laboratory and small scale pilot projects.

Bioplastic in Chile and Peru
Cereplast has entered into a new distribution agreement with Santiago, Chile-based ATSA CHILE SA to supply both Cereplast Compostables and Hybrids Resins bioplastic resins in Chile and Peru.

Certified bioplastic
NatureWorks says its Ingeo™ biopolymer is the first polymer to earn a four-star "OK biobased" rating from the European certification organization Vinçotte of Vilvoorde, Belgium. The certification recognizes four levels of renewable carbon content and four stars awarded for more than 80% biobased carbon content.

3M in biofuels, solar
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and 3M are collaborating on thin-film photovoltaics, concentrating solar power and biofuels development. The research range from jointly identifying and developing critical aspects of renewable energy technology to accelerated testing of 3M designs and scaling-up successful prototype technologies for commercial production.

...and Alcoa in solar
Alcoa is jointly testing an advanced solar technology with NRE), with the goal of making Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology competitive in the United States by lowering its cost to generate energy. Currently, commercial Concentrating Solar Power systems installed to date use glass mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that collect the solar energy and convert it to heat.

From ICIS news (requires subscription):
The Brazilian ethanol industry is slowly recovering from a "problematic year" in 2009, when production was impacted by the financial crisis and inclement weather in the country's main sugarcane-producing region.

The world chemical industry will continue to face challenges from tight energy supplies and industry consolidation to climate-change regulations and protectionism - all trends that the industry can help shape to its advantage.

US petrochemicals producers are facing an unprecedented wave of environmental and safety regulations this year, ranging from curbs on greenhouse gas emissions to chemical security.

As noted on my previous post, here is my full Q&A interview with Michael Brown, president of consulting firm StrategyMark, on his views about bisphenol-A.

Mr. Brown's previous chemical career highlights include as global coatings director of Quaker Chemical (2006-08), partner and VP of ChemQuest Group (1999-2006); business manager at DuPont (1981-1999), process engineer at PPG Industries and Sun Petroleum.

Q: Which alternatives to BPA use have you seen demand increasing?

Polycarbonate seems to have drawn the majority of the attention for BPA, likely because of its close association to infant and toddler care products, especially in non-packaging (sippy cups, baby bottles). A clear (no pun) winner in this area has been the copolyesters of Eastman with its Tritan brand, which was reportedly sold out shortly after the BPA issue erupted last year. Its success has been largely due to its "drop in" match of physical and processing properties versus polycarbonate. Polypropylene is likely the second winner in this space, not only due to the BPA issue, but also a longer trend toward reducing the material costs.

The impact on epoxy can coatings has been much less pronounced, in part due to a lack of a direct link to the infant/toddler markets. By that, I mean that the can lining is often clear and not easily seen or understood by the public as opposed to a bottle which can be touched and held.

Q: In your own opinion, what should the chemical industry do in tackling the BPA safety issue?

In my opinion, the industry is doing all it can right now to counter the concerns "technically" with actual data. It is also my opinion that it is too late to have a meaningful impact on turning around the momentum against BPA in infant/toddler care. However, the industry could slow or even stop the impact on the rest of the polycarbonate and epoxy markets.

I think the industry should learn from this experience:

• That consumers can react quickly and aggressively on green and health issues - more so now than ever due "viral" dissemination of information and a propensity for consumers to be more savvy about the source of materials and food they consume (China effect?).
  

• Issues that the industry believes (from data) are not a problem, can become perceptual and public relations issues, an area that the chemical industry has historically struggled with

• Trade groups should create committees with the sole purpose of constantly reviewing the risk potential of issues and preparing contingency plans should they erupt. (BPA was a simmering issue long before it erupted in 2009 and could serve as a case history). The risk assessment should be both technical as well as perceptual and the contingency should include public relations plans aimed at consumers
  

As seems to happen with the issues, the winners are usually from outside the immediate industry and the losers are the incumbent companies. So, yes, there is opportunity for chemical companies, but not likely those wedded to BPA-related technologies. Eastman is a good example. Start-up companies are especially adept at identifying issues that the large chemical companies don't properly address and using them to successfully enter markets

Q: Do you see more BPA alternatives down the road? Who are the companies aside from Eastman right now that are pursuing these developments?

I think the use of BPA-alternatives outside of baby care will depend on the ability of industry to continue to make its case with real data and confine the issue to baby care. If they lose that battle of public opinion (which will likely play out completely over the next few months), it is likely we will see polycarbonate continue to lose share in consumer related products, particularly food/beverage contact as well as consumer electronics, both are sensitive markets for "health" and "green" related issues. If the displacement of polycarbonate expands beyond food/beverage, polypropylene will increasingly be the winner.

I do not see an impact long-term on the use of polycarbonate and epoxy in industrial applications.

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Look out for more Q&A's about BPA coming from various industry groups in the next few weeks.

This news is very timely given my article on Bisphenol-A published today on ICIS Chemical Business. Let's go first to the EPA news before I discuss my article.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it plans to add BPA on its list of chemicals of concern, which will require its further testing related to its environmental effects. The EPA says it shares the FDA's (US Food and Drug Administration) concerns about the potential human health impacts of BPA, and that it would also study its potential effects and ways to reduce BPA exposure in food packaging. BPA releases to the environment is said to have exceed 1m pounds/year, according to the EPA.

Under the EPA's new BPA Action Plan, the agency will also require manufacturers to provide test data in evaluating BPA's possible environmental impacts such as long term effects on growth, reproduction and development in aquatic organisms and wildlife. The EPA will also look for possible substitutes under the the agency's Design for the Environment (DfE) program.

US BPA manufacturers include Bayer, Dow Chemical, Hexion and SABIC Innovative Plastics, which have an estimated combined 985,000 tonnes/year of BPA production capacity, according to ICIS News (this link requires subscription).

The EPA reports that BPA production volume in 2007 is estimated at 2.4 billion pounds, valued at almost $2 billion. Polycarbonate resins, as of 2007, consumes 74% of the BPA market followed by epoxy resins (20%) and others such as flame retardants, polyehterimides, polyacrylates, polysulfone resins, unsaturated polyester resins (6%).

The EPA says it does not intend to initiate regulatory action under TSCA (Toxic Substances Control Act) at this time on the basis of human health although it will work with the FDA to identify and assess potential substitutes to the extent that FDA may identify health concerns from BPA in food contact materials.

If you check out my BPA article, alternatives to BPA-based polycarbonates (PC) resins such as high density polyethylene HDPE, metallocene polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) naphthalene, polyethersulfone, and Eastman Chemical's Tritan copolyester are already wide-spread. Since Eastman launched its Tritan in the infant care market in October 2008, the company said sales quadrupled during the past 12 months.

Alternatives to BPA-based epoxy resins are difficult to find however, according to Michael Brown, president of Delaware-based consulting firm StrategyMark. He cited polyester, polyacrylate, alkyd resins and polyvinyl chloride [PVC] organosols as possible alternatives, although he notes their substantial trade-offs in cost, processability, potential capital investment for the can maker, and even possible health issues.

Brown also made an interesting comment that some can coating suppliers already have the BPA-free epoxy technology ready to deploy but in general have not had to do so.

"Having the technology in the hands of the formulators (Valspar, AkzoNobel, PPG) and motivating can makers (such as Ball and Crown) to use them are two very different things," said Brown. "The production speeds of cans are incredibly high and tiny differences in coating applications can have very big consequences. The willingness to change technologies is very low."

Next post is my full Q&A interview with StrategyMark's Michael Brown.

BP might be investing left and right in wind farms in the US but when it comes to solar cell and wafer manufacturing, the wind has gone out of this business' sail because of material pricing woes.

BP announced last week that it will shutdown its solar manufacturing facility in Frederick, Maryland, and sad as it may be, this move makes financial sense given the fact that more cheaper materials are being manufactured in places such as China and even India.

Fresh from a recent trip hosted by polysilicon manufacturer Wacker Chemie, I was able to get a small glimpse of how the solar materials market is currently going through and like BP, Wacker had to sell its stake in a solar wafer manufacturing joint venture Wacker Schott Solar GmbH in October last year because of continuous poor market conditions.

I'll post more about Wacker later but in the meantime, BP said the Frederick facility will ceased its silicon casting, wafering, and cell manufacturing although sales and marketing, research and technology, project development, as well as key business support activities will continue. 320 positions will be eliminated out of 430 at the plant.

BP said it will shift its remaining in-house manufacturing to its low cost joint ventures and regional supply partners to be more cost-competitive to its customers.

"Solar prices declined between 40 and 50 percent since the onset of the financial and economic crisis, compressing industry margins and driving solar power towards grid competitive pricing," said Reyad Fezzani, CEO of BP Solar. "By shifting our supply to a high quality, low cost supply base to serve both distribution customers and large scale projects, we have strengthened our position as a provider of competitive solar solutions with our offer of the highest lifetime value."

[Photo from Frederick News Post]

Here's my last update from last week (I think) and then I'll try to post about my recent trip to Wacker Chemie's annual press conference to talk about their sustainability strategies and their very interesting developments toward green chemistry.

Also in my draft are my interviews with Zeachem CEO Jim Imbler, and Antonis Papadourakis of Arkema's Sustainability Additives group. Further down are some interesting bits and pieces from various interviews covering the issue of Bisphenol-A. This article just came out and I'll put a separate post about it today. Sooo many information that needs to be posted!

And so where was I?

Ahh yes, I got this email from Honeywell about the first-ever flight of an aircraft last week powered solely on a biomass-derived jet fuel blend made from the non-food plant camelina. The US Air Force flew its A-10 Thunderbolt II jet aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida last Thursday, and everything went smoothly (as seen on the cool video below this post).

The hydrotreated renewable jet (HRJ) was made from a 50-50 blend of camelina-derived fuel and conventional JP-8 jet fuel. Players in the green jet fuel development include Sustainable Oils, which supplied the camelina oil, and Honeywell's UOP, which developed the green jet fuel, as part of a DESC (Defense Energy Support Center) award that was announced last fall.

Sustainable Oils will continue to supply camelina-based jet fuel to the Air Force under a 100,000 gallon-contract of HRJ-8 beginning 2009 through 2010, and includes an option to purchase an additional 100,000 gallons between June 2010 and December 2012.

The Air Force plans for a second feasibility demonstration this summer using an F-15 Eagle to test performance parameters. A C-17 Globemaster III will be tested because of the amount of fuel it consumes and an F-22 Raptor test is planned because of the aircraft's complexity. The latter two tests are scheduled to occur later this year.

"The Air Force is committed to reducing our reliance on foreign oil," said Terry Yonkers, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Logistics at the conclusion of the test flight. "Our goal is to reduce demand, increase supply and change the culture and mindset of our fuel consumption."

By the way, I'd like to share this interesting article about the state of aviation biofuels development worldwide published in February by Flight International magazine (a publication of ICIS' parent company, Reed Business Information). The article cited that biofuels' consumption share in the aviation fuels market will be 15% in 2020 and 30% in 2030.

Here's another news that came out last week while I was in Munich. I think I mentioned in another post before that news seem to be coming out right and left whenever I'm traveling?

Last Thursday, DNP Green Technology announced a partnership with GreenField Ethanol to build a $50m bio-succinic acid refinery that will produce de-icing solutions. The bio-succinic acid technology, which came from DNP's joint venture company Bioamber, will be licensed by the new partnership. Bioamber just started its 2,000 tons/year bio-succinic acid plant in Pomacle, France, early this year.

Greenfield will build and operate the refinery in Ontario, Canada, although DNP says it will hold a significant stake at the new joint venture. Feedstock for the refinery will come from grain-derived glucose, according to DNP Green. The joint venture plans to work with distributors in the various market segments, including Basic Solutions, a provider of innovative runway de-icing solutions.

DNP Green has really been getting very busy this year after just acquiring US-based bioplastic company Sinoven Biopolymers, which produces high performance biodegradable polybutylene succinate (PBS) plastic using Bioamber's succinic acid technology.

Alright, I'm back from my drinking binge in Germany (just kidding!). I wish the world is hooked on wifi for free so I can tweet and blog to my heart's content! Or ICIS will just give me a portable internet connection (crossing fingers...) = )

Anyway, here's an announcement from Genomatica last Thursday about their recent $15m fund raising coming from TPG. The company says the investment will accelerate their development and scale-up of Genomatica's flagship process for commercial-scale production of 1,4 butanediol (BDO).

Genomatica researchers have already achieved a 20,000-fold increase in the concentration of BDO produced by the microbes. The company plans to scale into a fully integrated demonstration facility, where it will finalize the engineering of its process for commercial-scale production of BDO.

So far, interests seem to have been rising from the investment community in industrial biotech processing. Aside from Genomatica's announcement, this year alone produced new funding announcements from Segetis, Cereplast ($20m in January); and from the newly created green chemistry company Reluceo.

By the way, in a survey from tax and advisory firm KPMG, 67% of the 200 venture capitalists, investors, entrepreneurs and bankers that responded expect that venture capital investment will increase this year compared to 2009. 77% of those surveyed say venture investment in green technology will increase in 2010 compared to 2009, including 15% who project investment to jump by more than 20%.

"We have certainly seen an increase in venture funding directed toward storage and efficiency, as investors look to maximize their returns on energy that is already here," said Packy Kelly, KPMG partner based in Silicon Valley and co-leader of its venture capital practice. "But renewables will also command attention, given the government's emphasis on these technologies that are advancing rapidly."

It's 4am here in Munich and my body clock is still adjusting so instead of staring at the ceiling, might as well make myself useful by scanning recent tweets from my green chemistry friends.

@BeyondBenign sent me this news about their recent new green chemistry alliance with specialty chemicals company Cytec Industries, and product lifecycle software and service company Sopheon. The alliance launched a website, www.isustain.com, which allows chemical manufacturers and users to track their progress in developing greener products over time.

According to the site, the iSUSTAIN™ Green Chemistry Index is "a tool which provides a methodology to generate a sustainability-based score for chemical products and processes that contains a set of sustainability metrics based on the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry."

For refresher course into the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry, follow the link here, which will take you into Beyond Benign's website, a non-profit organization established by Dr. John Warner, co-founder of the Green Chemistry Principles alongside current chief R&D of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Paul Anastas.

Back to the ISUSTAIN Index, the tool will take into account among others, factors such as waste generation, energy usage, health and environmental impact of raw materials and products, safety of processing steps.

This new tool is long overdue and will be invaluable not only to industrial chemists designing safer processes and products, but also as a resource for students, educators and the designers of the next generation of molecules and materials," said John C. Warner, President of Beyond Benign and the President and Chief Technology Officer of the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry.

I just got this email from Shell announcing their successful start-up of the world's first demonstration plant converting plant sugars into gasoline and gasoline blend components (instead of ethanol) in Wisconsin, USA.

The demo plant has the capacity to produce up to 38,000 litres/year (10,000 gal/year), which will be used for engine and fleet testing. It will use Virent's patented BioForming® platform technology, which uses catalysts to convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules like those produced at a petroleum refinery. Feedstocks that can be used for the plant include corn stover, wheat straw, sugarcane pulp aside from the conventional feedstock such as wheat, corn and sugarcane.

Shell says the new biofuel can be blended with gasoline in high concentrations for use in standard gasoline engines. This means no need for specialized infrastructure, engine modifications, and blending equipment necessary for the use of gasoline containing more than 10% ethanol.

I am here today in Munich, Germany, preparing to cover Wacker Chemie's annual international press conference in the next few days. In the pipeline for possible tweeting and blog (if I can get a wifi connection) includes Wacker's solar business, sustainability strategies, biotechnology and green chemistry. The green blogger will be a little bit busier than before so pardon the sparse posts.

By the way, this week, my bioplastic article from ICIS Chemical Business also came out, so please check it out. A new bioplastic presentation from Jim Lunt & Associates accompanies the online version.

Eastman buys non-phthalate plasticizers
Eastman Chemical will acquire Genovique Specialties Corporation, a global producer of specialty plasticizers, benzoic acid, and sodium benzoate. The acquisition will establish Eastman as a global leader in non-phthalate plasticizers for both general purpose and specialty markets.

BP's wind farm in Idaho
Ridgeline Energy, LLC and BP Wind Energy are mobilizing the construction site for the Goshen North wind farm in Bonneville County, Idaho. When fully operational, the wind farm will have a generating capacity of 124.5 megawatts and will be the largest wind facility in the state of Idaho.

Polysilicon pilot plant
Iosil Energy, which develops high-purity solar grade polysilicon for the photovoltaic industry, has secured $13.5 million in equity financing in an oversubscribed round. The full investment will be used by the company to build out a pilot manufacturing plant and prepare for commercial introduction.

Gas for China's solar
Linde Group and its subsidiary, Linde LienHwa (LLH), inked a long-term gas supply contracts with leading Chinese solar manufacturers where where Linde will supply to the full solar manufacturing value chain in China, from polysilicon to major solar module manufacturers, including GS Solar, Parity Solar, CNPV Solar Power SA, General Solar Power and Argus Power.

Li-Ion battery plant in Florida
Saft has broken ground its lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery manufacturing plant at Cecil Commerce Center in Jacksonville, Florida. The factory will build advanced Li-ion cells and batteries for military hybrid vehicles, aviation, smart grid support, broadband back-up power and energy storage for renewable energy. The facility will begin production during the second half of 2011

And in ICIS news (requires subscription):
A looming federal mandate for higher US consumption of ethanol in transportation fuels may trigger refinery shutdowns, higher gasoline prices for consumers and feedstock issues for petrochemical producers.

Can-coating suppliers already have bisphenol A (BPA)-free epoxy technologies that are ready to deploy, an official from US consultancy StrategyMark said.

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) renewed calls for continued government support for the industry, saying the elimination of tax subsidies and import duties could wipe out nearly 40% of the country's ethanol production.

I decided to separate this news from my previous post on NatureWorks' lactic acid announcement. This one is pretty interesting given the fact that bioplastic recycling -- needing to separate disposed bioplastics from traditional plastics -- especially here in the US is still an issue.

This new company called BioCor LLC based in Concord, California, is in the business of buying, aggregating, and processing post-consumer Polylactic acid (PLA) plastic products. BioCor says it will pay recyclers an economically attractive price for PLA in any packaging format and work with recyclers to achieve efficient separation of post-consumer PLA from other plastics.

Since NatureWorks is the biggest PLA player around, I'm guessing it has its hands on this new company. BioCor noted on its website that it has received start-up funding from a broad set of interested investors although did not mention any specifics.

BioCor says it is putting in place a supply agreement with PLARCO, the company turning PLA waste into lactic acid. I recalled NatureWorks mentioned to me last year that it was working on the same sort of deal with European lactic acid producer Galactic, where it will also produce lactic acid from recycled PLA.

Back to BioCor, the company is currently hiring staff and scaling up its infrastructure. BioCor says it has already been approached by several parties eager to sell post-industrial and post-consumer PLA and is in the process of assessing those initial supplies.

Here is a nice video from their website showing how PLA plastics are being sorted out from other plastics:

I'm being bombarded by bioplastic news this week! Here's one from NatureWorks, which announced last Monday its plans to enter the lactic acid intermediates market.

The company says it now offers for sale a range of polymer-grade lactides to support the rapidly growing global demand for these products in bio-based plastics and fibers. These products are used to produce the company's Ingeo polylactic acid (PLA)-based resins.

NatureWorks plans to make 10,000-20,000 tons/year of its lactide product portfolio available. Lactide partners can also avail of the company's Ingeo license package where NatureWorks will supply access to trademarks and application patents to develop wider adoption of Ingeo biopolymers.

Aside from NatureWorks, current players and developers in the PLA-based resins field include NatureWorks' former co-owner Teijin Chemicals of Japan; the Netherlands-based Synbra; Belgium-based Futerro; Pyramid Bioplastics and FKuR both based in Germany; UK-based Plaxica; and China-based Zhejiang Hisun Biomaterials.

Last year Futerro started its PLA-based bioplastic demo plant in Escanaffles, Beligum, with a capacity of 1,500 tonnes/year. The company expects to offer products such as lactide, oligomers and PLA polymers for the packaging market when it goes commercial. Futerro is a 50/50 joint venture between European lactic acid producer Galactic and France-based Total Petrochemicals.

FKuR, meanwhile, began operating its new North American subsidiary FKuR Plastics Corp. based in Texas early this year. Customers will be able to receive their bio-resins directly from a local US warehouse and FKuR said manufacturing of the compounds will begin once sales volume reached a stable level.

I've got some great stuff covering the Jefferies Global Clean Technology Conference yesterday and I hope my lovely readers followed my @ICISgreenblog tweets from there.

I was also able to talk to the CEO and president of Massachusetts-based bioscience company Metabolix and got some nice updates of the company's activities not only about their joint bioplastic venture Telles but also about their industrial chemicals and crop technology developments.

The blog already talked about Telles' recent start-up of its 110m lb/year Clinton, Iowa PHA-based resins plant. Here are some of the other salient points of the meeting and then watch my video interview with Rick Eno as he talked about last year's accomplishments and this year's expectations. Sorry about the slight shakiness to the video as I'm not yet proficient in this form of interview = )

• The company expects to be selling food contact injection molding products such as cutlery in second quarter this year; and film and thermoforming products such as coffee lids, yogurt cups, and storage bags in the second half of the year.
  

• Pricing range of their Mirel plastic is between $2.25/lb and $2.75/lb. Eno says unique combination of biodegradability, bio-based sourcing and performance properties allow premium pricing relative to most petroleum-based plastics.

• The Clinton site is still being optimized to improve operational efficiency. The site is also being developed to include next generation microbial streams, recovery technologies and product enhancements.

• In their industrial chemicals business, Eno says they are starting to scale up their C4 chemicals development first focusing on proladones (trying to get more information on this but all I get from google is suppositories....hmmm). Eno says Metabolix is working to optimize its fermentation process for C4 chemicals and is now in exploratory talks with potential partners.

• Metabolix is also looking to produce fermentation-based C3 and C5 chemicals.

• Metabolix expects increasing yields of PHA this year being developed in crops such as switchgrass, sugarcane and oilseeds. Eno estimates having commercially viable crops in field trials with intuitive growth in the next two years.

• Here's a nice equation Eno gave during his presentation at the conference: a 7.5% PHA in switchgrass = 100m lb polymer = $250m/year potential revenue; a 7.5% PHA in switchgrass = 45m gal biofuel = $90m/year potential revenue
  

Consumers are now demanding transparency on product ingredients that they use and the trade group Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) are working on compiling information on these ingredients in a so called "Consumer Product Ingredient Dictionary."

CSPA, which deals with the markets for air care (such as air freshners and air sprays), floor care, automotive cleaning products, pest management products, and other industrial and institutional cleaning products, announced this initiative last year in December to prepare manufacturers that will voluntarily participate in the joint CSPA and Soap and Detergent Association's (SDA) Consumer Product Ingredient Communication Initiative.

CSPA says the the Dictionary was developed to standardize and define ingredient nomenclature for companies engaging in the Ingredient Communication Initiative. As one ingredient can have several names due to the differing nomenclature used for various product lines, the Dictionary will provide consistency so that companies participating in the Initiative are using the most common ingredient name, the CSPA says.

The Dictionary, which currently contains around 300+ ingredients listed is now available on CD (for a price) although CSPA spokeswoman Gretchen Shaefer says it will soon be available online as a database.

"We are starting with companies who are subscribing to the dictionary on a CD but we hope to see an online database eventually. We expect more companies to participate as the years goes on but the most important thing right now is to get more and more ingredients listed," says Schaefer.

"We are also not soliciting applications for custom fragrances. CSPA will be working with custom fragrance suppliers to develop a fragrance monograph that will define the custom fragrances that can be simply identified as "fragrance."" - CSPA

Several chemical, green chemistry and renewable energy companies will be presenting today and Wednesday at Jefferies 9th annual Clean Technologies conference here in New York. My colleague Ivan Lerner will cover both days while I will cover the March 17th session. Watch out for our coverage (me via twitter @ICISgreenblog) for presentations coming from companies such as Air Products, Novozymes, BP, Total, Solazymes, Braskem, Dow Chemical, Metabolix, Elevance, Nalco, and many more.

For now here are this week's news roundup:

New photovoltaic joint venture
Enovos Luxembourg SA and Avelar Energy Ltd. (based in Zurich), formed a joint venture under the name 'Aveleos S.A.'. The objective of this new company, which is headquartered in Luxembourg, is to develop, operate and bring to the market photovoltaic plants in Italy and France with a total capacity of up to 95 MW.

New biofuel clusters
Total will permanently shut down refining operations at its Dunkirk site in France, which will be repurposed. One of Total's plans is to maintain the existing ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE) production unit at the Dunkirk site. ETBE is used in biofuels. In addition, it will offer the site to its BioTfueL project partners for a second-generation biofuel pilot unit.

Albemarle in biofuels
Albemarle will participate in the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium (NABC) that will conduct research to develop clean sustainable transportation fuels. Albemarle's Alternative Fuel Technologies Division is focusing on the development and commercialization of new breakthrough catalysts and technologies for the conversion of biomass into fuels.

New Lithium ion factory
Saft has started its lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery manufacturing plant at Cecil Commerce Center in Jacksonville, Florida. The factory will build advanced Li-ion cells and batteries for military hybrid vehicles, aviation, smart grid support, broadband back-up power and energy storage for renewable energy.

Waste recycling partnership
Smurfit-Stone Container's Recycling division has partnered with Emerald Waste Services (EWS) to operate EWS's materials recycling facility (MRF) and transfer station in Gainesville, FL. Smurfit-Stone will pull recyclable materials delivered to the transfer station from the waste stream.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
Owners and operators of chemical tankers are bracing themselves for a new wave of expensive environmental regulation.

The US chemicals sector renewed its attack on the EU programme for registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals (Reach), warning that US adoption of that far-reaching controls system will cripple the industry.

Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) that can burn high blends of ethanol will out compete vehicles powered by batteries, hydrogen or natural gas due to pricing and flexibility, US auto and chemical industry executives said.

I'm trying to tie up my bisphenol-A article today for ICIS Chemical Business' March 29 issue and hopefully will have more time to blog.

Before my bioplastic article will come out on March 22, here's an update from Metabolix about their bioplastic joint venture business, Telles, with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). The company announced it has already started operations of its new 110 million lbs/year polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)-based resins plant in Clinton, Iowa. Construction of this plant has been ongoing for four years and start-up has been constantly delayed since its first announcement in May 2008.

According to Metabolix, capacity utilization levels at Clinton are still expected to remain relatively low for the next few quarters but it is expected to increase as production processes are optimized and as demand increases through acquisition of new customers.

Here are some of the highlights of the company's bioplastic business update announced last Wednesday:

• Metabolix anticipates initial commercial deliveries of their bioplastic Mirel to customers within the next month.

• The Company continues to see significant demand for Mirel and are shifting focus towards the ramp up of sales, the implementation of next generation Mirel technology, and the prospects for a plant expansion.
  

• The Company noted that it had responded to two sets of comments by the FDA and continues to be confident that it can satisfy the needs for any additional commentary and data that may be requested as this process continues. Metabolix anticipates FDA approval for food contact injection molding in Q2 and film and thermoforming food contact products in second half of the year.
  

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Here's a sample of my Q&A interview with Bob Findlen, vice president of sales and marketing for Telles. Watch out for my bioplastic article coming out on March 22 from ICIS Chemical Business!

Q: How did the company's bioplastic business fare in 2009? What were the accomplishments and challenges the company faced last year?

Metabolix is pleased with the progress that was made in each of its bioplastics programs in 2009. We continued the strong move towards commercialization of the Mirel corn-fermentation process and reported positive results from the various plant science programs which are co-producing plastics and energy from non-food crops.

A few of the more notable accomplishments in the Telles (Metabolix, ADM joint venture) business include:

• The availability of a new injection molding grade, Mirel P1003 and Mirel P-4001 sheet extrusion grade

• The launch of several customer trials including the Paper Mate Biodegradable Pen, Bioverse and Pharmafilter
  

• The company participated in their first NPE show in June which was viewed largely as a success - it helped maintain high level of interest and anticipation among customers of the coming commercial availability of Mirel

• The company gained 3 significant certifications in 2009 - Vincotte Home Compostable and Industrial Composting and BPI Compostable

• Telles opened their first international office in the Netherlands in October and announced a business development director for the European office

Q: What milestones are you setting your sights on for the next 12 months?

Over the next year the chief task at hand is building production levels and efficiencies at the new Clinton, IA Mirel facility (the first commercial PHA facility). Telles will continue to focus on its sales pipeline and in furthering established relationships when we begin shipping product to customers, and also developing new opportunities with this increase in material, while building up global brand awareness.

In response to significant market need and customer demand we are increasing our development and production efforts within the film and compostable bag market. This has already been a focus application for the company, but it will be a higher priority through 2010.

We also plan to expanding our product grade portfolio into film, thermoforming and the foam market in 2010. With these grades and the grades already developed we look to sell Mirel in 2010 to validate the value proposition of Mirel and illustrate acceptance in the marketplace and at major brand owners.

Here is another reason why the momentum for algae development is stronger than ever.

As mentioned on my post "Algae coming soon in resins," consultant Neil Burns of US-based Neil A. Burns LLC remarked about algae developer such as Solazyme filing patents on algae-based specialty chemical products. As a cited example was a patent filed by Solazyme last year on algae-derived polysaccharides that can be used as anti-aging skin care ingredient.

This morning, Solazyme announced that it has partnered with consumer products giant Unilever in developing algal oil for use in soaps and personal care products. The companies said they are working on a process to incorporate algal oils into personal care products at a commercially relevant scale.

Since palm oil are being targeted by environmentalists, I guess Unilever might as well look for next-generation renewable oil as raw materials for their products. Unilever said exploring alternative natural oils is one of the company's most important sustainable sourcing strategy.

Germany-based rubber company Lanxess started its new onsite bagasse-powered cogeneration plant in Porto Feliz, Brazil. The 4.5 megawatt (MW) renewable-based power plant produces electricity and steam for use in Lanxess' iron oxide pigment production at the site.

The project started in 2008 and cost around EUR 8 million ($10.9m). Lanxess says the new cogeneration plant enables the company to significantly cut CO2 emissions at the site which will be 44,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalents less than in 2002's emissions.

Watch the video of how the cogeneration plant works. It's really cool!

Lanxess says it has already reduced its direct climate gas emissions by more than 50% in the past two years. From 2007 to 2009, annual emissions from the group's plants were cut from 3.5 million to 1.5 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents. Its 80% emissions reduction goal for its German plants by 2012 (announced in 2007) has also already been reached, the company says.

Further cogeneration power facilities are planned for India and Belgium this year. A power plant is already being constructed at the Nagda site as well as Lanxess' Jhagadia sites in India. The Nagda site will use biomass-based fuels while the Jhagadia cogeneration plant will use natural gas. The energy supply at LANXESS's site in Zwijndrecht, Belgium, is also being converted this year.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) reported last week that US recycling of non-bottle rigid plastics such as high density polyethylene (HDPE) tubs, polypropylene (PP) cups and other food containers, and durable items such as crates, carts, buckets and electronic casings, was up 11% to 0ver 361 million pounds in 2008 compared in 2007.

ACC said much of the recycled material was used to manufacture new products such as pallets, crates, composite lumber and gardening items. Drivers for the increase include growing curbside recycling programs as well as strong plastic scrap prices in the first quarter of 2008.

I'm pretty sure scrap prices were down in 2009 so I wonder how recycling went last year....

For post-consumer plastic bottle recycling that includes HDPE, PP and polyethylene terepthalate (PET), ACC reported that the total plastic bottle recycling rate in 2008 reached a record-high 2.4 billion pounds at 27%, up from 24.4% in 2007. PET bottles collected increased by 55 million pounds while HDPE bottles rose by 16.1 million to 936.7 million pounds. PP bottle recycling totaled 21.2 million pounds, reports ACC.

PET and HDPE bottles continue to account over 96% of the U.S. plastic bottle market and over 99% of the bottles recycled.

[Photo from msnbc.com]

I've postponed this post about new green chemistry companies for too long and I'm very sorry = (. It seems there are new companies I come across each month that my list keeps on growing! But that's a good thing.

On the back of my recent green investment article on ICIS Chemical Business, here are several new green chemistry companies that came to my attention. Some of them might already be a veteran in the field for all I know, but one thing is certain is that there are more of them to come!

Reluceo
Reluceo launched itself in January this year and was formally introduced during the Next Generation Bio-based Chemicals Summit held in San Diego, California, on February 9-10. As previously mentioned in another post, Reluceo is created by Segetis founders Olga Selifonova and Sergey Selifonov, with backing from Khosla Ventures. The company's technology centers on using C5 and C6 carbohydrates derived from hemicellulose and cellulose feedstocks to replace petroleum-derived chemicals and fuels.

Glycos Biotechnologies
I first mentioned GlycosBio in July 2008 when they licensed a fermentation process developed by Rice University that can convert glycerine into high value organic acids such as formate, lactate, and succinate. GlycosBio was founded in 2007 by Rice University professor Ramon Gonzalez and since then GlycosBio have developed biocatalytic production systems for renewable-based chemicals and fuels from starting materials other than crude glycerin.

In fact, the company announced today that they were able to successfully produced lactic acid and advanced ethanol in their pilot plant capable of producing up to 150,000 liters of chemicals. The company's platform technology uses microorganisms to produce building block chemicals via non-sugar based feedstock. GlycosBio says their technology has been proven to be cost competitive with the petrochemical industry, while maintaining 45-55% gross margins from plant operations.

Butalco
Swiss company Butalco was founded in 2007 and is currently developing a new process to use C5/C6 sugars from lignocellulose for bio- ethanol and biobutanol fermentation. The company's core technology is based in genetically optimized yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).

Butalco plans to produce its first cellulosic ethanol in summer this year in Hohenheim University's pilot plant in Stuttgart, Germany. Butalco said its new microbial catalysts will enable up to 30% increased yields in cellulosic ethanol production.

Pennakem
Formerly Penn Specialty Chemicals, Pennakem was acquired by French Minakem Group in July 2008, and becomes a global supplier of agriculture by-product based furfural and furan derivatives. Pennakem is actively marketing its green solvent 2-MeTHF (2-methyltetrahydrofuran) and 2-MeTHF based organometallic reagents, organic and inorganic salts, hydrides and alcoxides.

Pennakem says its 2-MeTHF is an economical green alternative to tetrahydrofuran (THF). Unlike 2-MeTHF which is not soluble in effluent waters, THF is said to be water miscible and therefore hard to separate from effluents. Last month, Pennakem has joined forces with Chemetall for the marketing of 2-MeTHF.

Allylix
This one came to my attention from a comment in the blog. Allylix produces high value terpene products through yeast fermentation, and its platform is said to be applicable to a wide range of products including flavors and fragrances, food ingredients, fine chemicals, pesticides and crop protection products and pharmaceuticals. The company's first focus is a class of terpenes called sesquiterpenes. Allylix also licensed its technology in 2008 for use in certain biofuels products.

Last month, the company announced that it was able to raised $6m in its Series C financing, which will allow Allylix to commercialize its first three products for the food and fragrance industry. One product is nootkatone, a long-lasting citrus flavor and fragrance used in the food, beverage, and personal care industries, which Allylix says has only been available before in limited quantities and at high prices.

Synthezyme
Here's one in my neighborhood (yey!). Synthezyme's technology, which uses certain yeast strains to convert natural biobased lipids to industrial monomers and surfactants, was developed by Polytechnic Institute of New York University's Dr. Richard Gross (a EPA Presidential Green Chemistry awardee).

According to CEO Frank Shinneman, the company is also developing biopesticides based on similar technology and has been awarded last January, a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Small Business Innovation Research (NSF SBIR) to develop the biopesticides.

The Winter Olympic games is over but of course environmentalists have to check if there is a heavy carbon footprint left behind.

According to the David Suzuki Foundation, the recent Vancouver Olympic games garnered a Bronze medal for overall efforts to reduce the event's climate impact. Achievements include building energy-efficient venues, using clean-energy sources, relying on public transit during the Games, and offsetting part of the Games' emissions.

Of course, I'm more interested in sustainable materials that were used during the games. One big example is from major sponsor Coca-Cola.

Adage.com wrote some of Coca-Cola's green efforts at the game such as its café furniture made from pine-beetle-salvaged wood; its Coke and Dasani water bottles made from 30% plant-based materials; and their beverages delivered via hybrid vehicles and electric cart.

Coca-Cola also aimed that 95% of their waste generated during the Games will be diverted from landfills. The company is said to be one of the first major marketers to embark on a zero-waste, carbon-neutral sponsorship of an event as complex as the Olympic Games. All Coca-Cola PET bottles recycled at the Games will be made into blankets and T-shirts to be distributed to people in need.

By the way, Dow Chemical Canada says it has help provide energy efficiency to the venue with its insulation materials and heat transfer fluids. The company supplied more than 2.5 million board feet of STYROFOAM brand insulation and more than 500,000 board feet of STYROFOAM HIGHLOAD insulation products for the green roof on the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Another interesting sustainability initiatives at the game is the Olympic and Paralympic medals that are said to contain recovered metal from electronic waste. Canadian mineral company Teck used its recycling process, which recover metal from end-oflife electronics (e-waste) such as TVs, computers and keyboards. The gold, silver and copper used in the medals was recovered from end-of-life electronics circuit boards collected and processed at Trail and the Umicore facilities in Belgium which was then combined with the metal from other sources for the medal production.

The content of recovered metal from the e-waste material in the specific metals is: Gold: 1.52%; Silver: 0.122%; Copper: 1.11%.

Finally, 3M Canada Company says the building and vehicle wrap graphics that they supplied to the Winter Olympic games are being reclaimed and recycled diverting approximately 200,000 square feet of material from Canadian landfill sites.

When the graphics (essentially large stickers) are removed from vehicles and key Vancouver 2010 venues such as the Richmond Olympic Oval and the Pacific Coliseum, they will be consolidated and then shipped to Mannington's manufacturing facility.
The graphic materials will become a key ingredient in a mixture used to make high recycled content flooring.

Two France-based specialty chemicals companies recently separately announced a research and development collaborations towards green materials and processing.

Rhodia formed a multi-year partnership with the University of Pennsylvania and the French National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, or CNRS) to develop new, sustainable technologies in the field of soft condensed matter such as liquids, colloids, polymers, foams and gels. The partnership also formally launched a new international research collaboration called COMPASS.

Rhodia says initial projects will explore renewable and sustainable ingredients for consumer products in home and personal care markets. Others projects will address broadly critical issues such as water scarcity for agriculture and novel printable electronic solutions for energy transfer and storage.

Arkema, meanwhile, joined the EuroBioRef (European Multilevel Integrated Biorefinery Design for Sustainable Biomass Processing) and BIOCORE (Biocommodity Refinery) projects last week.

The projects aim to develop a new highly integrated production concept from multiple non-edible plant feedstocks, using a number of processes (chemical, biochemical, thermochemical) to produce a wide range of products, including aviation fuel and chemical intermediates.

Arkema also announced today that it has partnered with the Lorraine Regional Council and two university laboratories in France - LRGP (Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des procédés) at ENSIC chemical engineering school in Nancy, and MOPS (Laboratoire Matériaux Optiques, Photonique et Système) at Paul Verlaine university in Metz - for the development of biobased acrylic acid and derivatives.

The joint research program aims to develop an industrial process for the synthesis of glycerol - a byproduct of the processing of rapeseed into bio-diesel - into acrylic acid.

A lot of biofuel-related new chemicals last month. Not surprising as companies always like to launch products during major trade shows, and February was the month where the National Ethanol Conference and the National Biodiesel were held. For more on news from these shows, check out my biofuel posts part 1 and part 2.

1. Verenium ethanol enzyme - Verenium introduced Xylathin, a highly active enzyme designed to significantly improve the economics of fuel ethanol production from cereal grains.

2. Novozymes biomass enzyme - Novozymes launched Cellic® CTec2 enzymes for production of biofuel from agricultural waste. The enzyme enables the biofuel industry to produce cellulosic ethanol at a price below $2/gallon, says Novozymes.

3. Genencor biomass enzyme - Genencor introduced Accellerase® DUET for cellulosic biofuel, which is said to achieve higher sugar and biofuel yields and to be feedstock- and pretreatment- flexible.

4. Evonik metathesis catalyst - Evonik Industries is now offering three new, efficient homogeneous catalysts that cover a broad spectrum of reactions in cross-metathesis, ring-closing metathesis, and ring-opening metathesis: catMETium® RF2, catMETium® RF3, and catMETium® RF4.Metathesis is an important method for developing and producing, for example, high-tech plastics--including those based on renewable resource.

5. Ecology Coatings bio-based coatings - Ecology Coatings has developed bio-based materials for use in its new family of EcoQuik™ UV-curable coatings. Products incorporating bio-based additives are being used in commercial development applications that exhibit enhanced curing speed, pigment coverage and useful surface effects.

6. Solutia's cost-efficient encapsulant - Saflex, a business unit of Solutia launched a new encapsulant, Saflex® PG41 designed specifically to improve solar panel throughput and processing costs for solar module manufacturers that use the vacuum encapsulation process.

7. Bayer MaterialSicence's eco-coatings - Bayer MaterialScience highlights its waterborne polyurethane coatings for graffiti-resistant applications on metal bridge infrastructure as well as concrete abutments.

8. Wacker green dispersions - Wacker presented its new vinyl acetate / ethylene-based (VAE) dispersions VINNAPAS® XD 05, said to be a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to existing packaging adhesives based on polyvinyl acetate (PVAc).

9. Celanese low-VOC emulsions - Celanese debuts its EcoVAE® emulsions for low VOC, eco-friendly, waterborne interior paints.

My bioplastic article has been filed and will be out for the March 22 issue of ICIS Chemical Business. Right now I'm working on about bisphenol-A (BPA) which is getting to be really interesting. Can't wait to share that!

For now here are this week's news roundup:

Lithium expansion in Korea
Celgard will expand production capacity of its lithium-ion battery separator production at its existing facility in Ochang, South Korea. The facility will come online in 2011, and will serve customer growth in consumer electronics applications.

Mitsui's biomass refinery in Asia
Mitsui will build a number of biomass refineries in Southeast Asia using Inbicon's biomass refinery technology. Mitsui intends to apply the technology in the palm oil industry, where wastes from palm oil production can be converted into ethanol, solid biofuel for energy production, and animal feed.

Solutia acquires solar biz
Solutia will acquire Etimex Solar, a Germany-based supplier of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulants to the photovoltaic market.Solutia says combining EVA with its existing polyvinyl butyral (PVB) encapsulant capabilities positions the company as the world's only one-stop source for solar encapsulant solutions.

Univar adds bio-solvents
Chemical distributor Univar has announced a pan-European distribution agreement with Italy's Liberty Chemicals srl, sole European representative of Vertec BioSolvents. The product range comprises 15 biodegradable, carbon neutral and cost-effective alternatives to widely-used conventional solvents.

Cereplast starts Indiana operations
Bioplastic producer Cereplast has begun production at its new 80 million pounds/year facility in Seymour, Indiana. The company has also moved its corporate headquarters to offices in El Segundo, California, from Hawthorne, California.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
At least seven resolutions and bills are pending in Congress to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gases.

The US recycled at least 361m lb (164,000 tonnes) of non-bottle rigid plastics in 2008, up nearly 11% from a year earlier, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

Brazil sugarcane industry association Unica blamed local fuel distributors for keeping hydrous ethanol less competitive than gasoline by not passing a drop in the price of the biofuel to consumers.

Two recent big news on the algae front are developments from Honeywell's UOP business and from DuPont. Both companies were able to get funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) - $1.5 million for UOP and $8.8 million for DuPont.

In UOP's case, The funding will be used for the design of a demonstration system that will capture carbon dioxide from exhaust stacks at Honeywell's manufacturing facility in Hopewell, Virginia, and deliver the captured CO2 to a cultivation system for algae. Algal oil will be extracted from the algae for biofuel feedstock, and the algae residual can be converted to pyrolysis oil, which can be burned to generate renewable electricity.

The project is being managed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory.

For DuPont, the $8.8m funding given by DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) will help the company's macroalgae-to-isobutanol project, which will establish technology and intellectual property in the use of macroalgae for biobutanol production. Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels LLC, a joint venture between DuPont and BP, will be responsible for commercialization of the resulting technology package.

Bio Architecture Lab, a subrecipient of the program, will help in the development of technology to utilize macroalgae as low cost, scalable and sustainable biomass for the production of the biofuel.

So in the field of algae, we now have ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical, Honeywell and now DuPont. Hey, if tax money is flowing from the DOE, why not use it, right? I wonder what chemical company is next.

By the way, Europe is also taking actions when it comes to algae for biofuels led by the European Algae Biomass Association (EABA). The group's consortium called AquaFuels started its campaign in January this year to promote algae biofuels development and commercialization.

EABA said the consortium is set to deliver in the forthcoming months a sound scientific assessment of algae based biofuels in terms of both their expected sustainability and increased carbon efficiency.

Algae has actually been under fire in the recent months as one study in particular from the University of Virginia, reports that algae production consumes more energy, has higher greenhouse gas emissions and uses more water than other biofuel sources, such as switchgrass, canola and corn.

Of course the Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) questions the researchers' report stating that it was based upon obsolete data and grossly outdated business models.

As previously noted in past posts, the blog has also encountered a lot of skepticism about algae from the chemical industry especially it's use as biofuel feedstock.

Meanwhile, in the midst of this debate, members of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) is currently urging the Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) to extend tax code parity to algae-based biofuels as soon as possible. BIO said algae producers are currently at a disadvantage in attracting investments as algae-based biofuels are not recognized in the tax code as advanced biofuels (even though the DOE has been giving grants for its development and commercialization under its Advanced Biofuels stimulus program...).

BIO said it specifically supported the language in the Algae-based Renewable Fuel Promotion Act (S. 1250/H.R. 4168), sponsored by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.).

[Algae photo from DuPont]

The blog previously posted about DSM Venturing's growing recent investments in renewable chemistry and clean technology projects. It is now our pleasure to share insights coming from Erik Rutten, DSM Venturing's senior investment manager, on how green chemistry companies can attract strategic partners such as DSM.

Q: What are the challenges that DSM Venturing confronts when it comes to investing in green chemistry-based companies?

In general green chemistry based companies are of interest to DSM because of our company's strategic focus on innovations in the area of climate and energy. DSM's Global Strategy is fundamentally to leverage strengths in the areas of Life Sciences and Materials Sciences via Innovation driven by the global trends, amongst others, in this field. This implies, for instance, using its white biotechnology competences to develop new generation 'green' materials. To speed up developments in this field, DSM applies an open innovation model, a.o. through its venturing activities.

However this does not directly mean we would invest in every green company around. DSM Venturing only considers investing if we see a clear strategic fit between the start-up company and one of the business units of DSM. Sometimes that is not directly clear and it can take several discussions to finally define the strategic interest. Next to the strategic fit with our business, DSM Venturing thoroughly evaluates the potential investment with regards to their business plan, the expected financial return, the risks involved and if the company has good and experienced management through a normal due diligence process. If both the internal strategic fit and the due diligence are positive we could decide for the investment.

Furthermore in line with our Triple P policy (People, Planet, Profit), we look into the Life Cycle Assessment of the products our potential investment companies make. Their environmental impact should be as low as possible throughout their life, i.e. 'from cradle to grave'.

Q: Do you see increasing investment activities in general targeting green chemistry companies? What potential benefits can an investor get in these type of companies?

We already saw quite some increase in activities the last couple of years and we expect that to be more and more. The amount of start ups in this space is booming, but last year it was more difficult for them to get financing. Several of these start-ups suffered and had to adjust their plans or disappeared. For investors it is a good time to step in: valuations are low and demand for green-based chemicals are expected to increase strongly. Driven by climate change and alternative energy initiatives, this is a field with a lot of growth and innovation potential which attracts lots of investors and entrepreneurs and creates room for new ways of generating value.

Q: What specific strategies or objectives should a green chemistry company emphasize to attract investors?

Most important will be to meet the right price/performance ratio for their 'green' products. Although "green" is attractive for a lot of customers the premium they are willing to pay is low. Sometimes the products/company are kept alive by subsidies, but in the long run that is not sustainable. The green chemistry start-up company is best focusing on better performance and/or lower price than incumbent products. Take "green" as a bonus.

Further it could be of benefit if the company can show early revenues. Perhaps not optimized and not in the main final target application, but it helps to reduce the finance need of the company and provides trust for future activities. For a start-up in chemistry (so also green chemistry) the CAPEX layout for manufacturing facilities is relatively high - there is the chicken/egg issue of what to achieve first: guaranteed high volume orders or manufacturing capacity (scale/price issue) and to have a solid tolling or partnering option for manufacturing in place is definitely attractive to investors.

Q: What is your number one advice for those who want to start-up their own green chemistry-based company when it comes to getting funding?

Next to a great product or technology and a realistic business plan they need to take care of establishing a decent patent portfolio to protect their future business and secure freedom to operate. Furthermore the whole life cycle analysis should be taken into account. Finally the premium that will be paid for 'green' nor the costs of 'green' should not be overestimated.

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Check out more about green chemistry investment insights on ICIS Chemical Business' March 1 issue.

Let me get this news from Walmart last week before it becomes stale. Everybody knows in the supply chain community that what Walmart and other big box retailers do vibrates all the way even up to chemical feedstock producers.

This year, Walmart decided to further put their nose in their supply chain's businesses by asking them (very nicely of course) to reduce their own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if they still want to be part of the Walmart empire. The retailer is coordinating with groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund, ClearCarbon Inc., PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Applied Sustainability Center (ASC) at the University of Arkansas, to implement this huge task.

To implement the program, Walmart will first assess product categories with the highest embedded carbon on their lifecycle. As soon as the products are identified, those involved must then reduce the products' GHGs from the sourcing of raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, customer use or end-of-life disposal.

Walmart must also demonstrate it had direct influence on the reduction and show how that reduction would not have occurred without Walmart's participation. Just showing I guess that it is all about Walmart...

Finally, suppliers and Walmart will jointly account for the reductions. ClearCarbon will perform a quality assurance review of those claims to ensure methodology, completeness and calculations are correct. When the claims meet the quality assurance check, PricewaterhouseCoopers will assess whether the defined procedures were followed consistently to quantify the reduction claim.

Walmart aims to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain by the end of 2015.

While I'm knee-deep last week transcribing phone interviews for my bioplastic article as well as trying to find people interested in talking about bisphenol-A (this one should be interesting), Walmart was busy announcing its latest sustainability strategy of eliminating 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain by the end of 2015.

More on that in another post but in the meantime, I am happy to announce that this week's news roundup is finally on time (yey!).

Ukraine gets green thumbs-up
Alternativa and GreenShift Corp. have entered into an exclusive supply and cooperation agreement for the purpose of designing and developing sustainable integrated feedstock and renewable energy production facilities, the first being in Ukraine. The facility will be designed to process rapeseed into substantial quantities of renewable fuels, edible oils and animal feed.

EcoPure in containers
Casey Container Corp. acquired the licensing rights to incorporate EcoPure™ biodegradable additive into the manufacture of plastic containers for use in the food, beverage and pharma packaging industries. The containers will be 100% biodegradable as well as recyclable, and can therefore be mixed into the standard PET recycling stream.

New Jersey solar cell tech
Natcore Technology made a deal with a consortium in China to form a joint venture company, which will develop and manufacture film-growth equipment and materials using Natcore's proprietary Liquid Phase Deposition (LPD) technology. The technology would be used in the production of solar cells.

Deere still in wind energy?
Deere & Company said it will review strategic options for its wind energy business and has retained Goldman, Sachs & Co. as exclusive financial advisor to assist in the initiative. Currently, Deere has 34 wind energy projects in seven states with operational capacity of 706 megawatts.

Biodegradable recycled trash bags
B Greeb Innovations had commenced prototype development of its biodegradable plastic garbage, compactor & pet bags made from recycled plastics, and the bags are now in the testing phase. The plastic bags contains the company's biodegradable additive technology Renatura.

Dow gets Michigan tax credit
Dow Chemical received from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA) a MEGA Job Creation Tax Credit, which includes incentives for the company's recently announced DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle facility. MEGA also approved a $42m tax credit application for Dow Kokam, a joint venture between Dow and TK Advanced Battery. The grant will help Dow's financing in the production of lithium ion battery packs for hybrid and electric vehicles at its battery manufacturing facility in Midland.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
US ethanol production in 2009 was 10.75bn gal, an increase of 16.5% from 9.23bn gal the previous year, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.

A bipartisan group of US House representatives has joined Senate members in seeking to overturn plans by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gases.

High-value commodities such as pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals will be the first end-markets to benefit from algae bioengineering and farming.

My green article masterpiece is finally out (on print) this week as part of ICIS Chemical Business' March 1 green feature. My article is about the investment environment for green chemistry companies and it has definitely been an eye opener for me on how these companies were able to get the money flowing for their R&D operations.

Within the next few weeks, I'm hoping I'll be able to post additional tidbits of information coming from biobased succinic acid producer DNP Green Technology, levulinic ketal technology developer Segetis; bio-MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) developer Genomatica; bio-acrylic acid developer OPX Biotechnologies; bio-acetic acid developer Zeachem; green chemistry company Elevance Renewable Science; as well as from Verdezyne who recently announced their development on bio-adipic acid.

I'm also going to post my full Q&A session with DSM Venturing's senior investment manager Eril Rutten. Check out my green investment story and let me know what you think!

Meanwhile, other masterpieces from the Green feature also include:

• An overview and update on the past Copenhagen Climate Change summit by author Lou Reade

• The issue of population growth and how chemical companies can use their technology on this issue (think about water, food, energy, materials) by author Philippa Jones;
  

• How chemical companies are surviving (or not) on the burdensome costs of the European chemical regulation Reach by Will Beacham

• How chemical companies are reaping the benefits of applying eco-friendly manufacturing processes by Feliza Mirasol

• Update on the winners of Sustainability Profile award from the recent Informex tradeshow by Clay Boswell

• And Elaine Burridge's interview with Cognis CEO Antonio Trius about their green business strategies.