April 2010 Archives

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just opened to public access to database on chemical hazard, exposure and toxicity data under their website called ToxRefDB (Toxicity Reference Database).

Those interested in chemical toxicity can query a specific chemical and find all available public hazard, exposure, and risk-assessment data, as well as previously unpublished studies related to cancer, reproductive, and developmental toxicity.

The EPA said ToxRefDB is part of ACToR (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource), an online data warehouse that collects data from about 500 public sources on tens of thousands of environmentally relevant chemicals, including several hundred in ToxRefDB.

The EPA said the database captures over 30 years and $2 billion of animal testing results. It also connects to EPA's chemical screening tool called ToxCast, a multi-year, multi-million dollar effort that uses advanced science tools to help efficiently (~$20K per chemical) understand biological processes impacted by chemicals that may lead to adverse health effects.

"Tens of thousands of chemicals are in commerce and current chemical testing is expensive and time consuming. Results from chemical testing are scattered throughout different sources," said Dr. Robert Kavlock, director of EPA's National Center for Computational Toxicology. "ToxRefDB allows the public to search, find and compare available studies about chemical toxicity and potential health effects."

The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) reiterated yesterday that their members are not anti-green jobs or anti-clean energy, they just want Congress not to over-tax and over-regulate the domestic refining and petrochemical industry into extinction.

NPRA president Charles Drevna presented the industry's views yesterday at a hearing entitled "Clean Energy Policies That Reduce Our Dependence on Oil" held by the US House of Representative's Subcommittee on Energy and Environment.

The hearing examines the impact of oil dependence on US economy and national security, and how the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recent regulation and future policies can reduce that dependence.

Since I'm about to write an article about the EPA's new greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) rule, I'm definitely interested in hearing the NPRA's views. I especially like this quote from Mr. Drevna.

"Some people think we can reorient our energy supply system and end our reliance on oil simply by saying that's what we want to do," Drevna added. "They embrace other energy sources like starry-eyed lovers, seeing perfection and ignoring flaws. The fact is, however, that there is no miracle source of energy that is clean, efficient, affordable and abundant with no downside. If such a source existed, our nation would have embraced it long ago and we'd all be using it today."

Drevna said the NPRA supports clean energy and policies that enhance efficient energy but the US should have energy portfolio that is broad as possible that will include petroleum, coal, and nuclear energy, and supplemental sources ranging from wind to geothermal to biofuels.

"Right now, no nation on the planet limits its access to its own oil and natural gas deposits as much as the United States. Continuing these severe restrictions -- and then complaining about our reliance on unstable foreign sources of petroleum -- is illogical. Our policies need to be pragmatic and flexible."

Just got this news from Cereplast talking about their plans to commercially introduce the first-ever algae-based resins in the market by the end of 2010.

Their proprietary resins could contain 50% or more algae biomass based resins (the rest are petroleum-based). I am not sure who they source their algae biomass from but since research on algae have exploded recently (including from big chemical companies such as Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil, DuPont, Honeywell's UOP), there's probably plenty of company with algae byproducts to sell.

As I recall from my previous Q&A with Cereplast CEO Frederic Scheer, he noted that algae companies are selling their biomass byproducts to the cattle industry. He also noted during the interview that they expect commercialization within 5 years time so I was actually caught by surprise with this announcement.

This is what Mr. Scheer said in today's press release:

"The properties of hybrid materials that we have developed with algae are now very close to meeting our expectations, and are on target to introduce a new family algae-based plastics by the end of the year. In the not so distant future, we believe that algae will become one of the most important 'green' feedstocks in bioplastics as well as biofuels."

The battle over corn-based and sugarcane-based ethanol -- which one is cheaper? -- has been brewing for weeks, and I've received emails and tweets last week about statements released from both camps: the Renewable Fuel Association (RFA) and the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA).

RFA accused UNICA last week of making exaggerated and (in some cases) false claims about the cost benefits of sugarcane-ethanol product over American ethanol. RFA said a recent comparison of ethanol prices shows that E10 (10% ethanol/90% gasoline) made with American ethanol would be 7 cents less at the retail level than E10 made with imported Brazilian ethanol.

"UNICA engages in a number of instances of 'fuzzy math'," says RFA. "Data from Brazil's CEPEA, the Center of Advanced Studies in Applied Economics (collected via an agreement with UNICA and another sugarcane growers association), clearly shows that Brazilian ethanol prices have not been competitive with U.S. corn ethanol since the summer of 2009. An American driver who pulled up to the pump today would theoretically spend an additional 7 cents/gal if they filled up E10 from imported Brazilian ethanol instead of E10 from American ethanol."

And then Velasco challenged RFA's VP of research Geoff Cooper that whoever loses will buy the winner a drink: caipirinha vs bourbon...

I love YouTube! It makes my blogging easier by just posting videos while I'm caught up with work.

This one is about Goodyear's new Assurance Fuel Max tire, which was launched in North America last year. The tire features a proprietary fuel-saving tread compound that helps reduce energy loss as the tire rolls, so less gas is required to keep the tire rolling. Goodyear said 4% fuel improvement is gained using the Fuel Max tires meaning drivers can save 2,600 miles worth of gas over the life of a set of 4 tires.

The tires are being incorporated in 2011 Chevrolet Volt, 2010 Ford Fusion S, and 2010 Toyota Prius.

Also in this video, Goodyear mentioned their development in collaboration with enzyme company Genencor on Bio-isoprene. The chemical isoprene is used for the production of synthetic rubber for tire manufacture. Commercialization of tires made from the renewable-based isoprene is expected within the next five years.

Big money news last week came from Amyris Biotechnologies and Codexis.

Amyris finally filed with the SEC for an initial public offering (IPO) of $100m. The company's current R&D focuses on sugarcane-based chemicals especially farnesene, a molecule which can be used as a renewable chemical ingredient for consumer and industrial products and as a fuel.

"We believe that we will be able to enter certain specialty chemical markets with farnesene if we can attain at commercial production scale the 15% yield that we have achieved at two liter scale. We will continue to seek to improve our yield of farnesene and other molecules in order to enter additional markets profitably and improve our production economics." - Amyris

As of December 31, the company's accumulated deficit amounts to $120.4 million. Amyris revenues mostly come from ethanol sale (via Amyris Fuels LLC), the delivery of collaborative research services and from government grants.

The company has yet to make a profit. Their 2009 sales revenue increased to $64.6m from $13.9m in 2008 but 2009 losses also went up from $42 million in 2008 to $64.4 million.

Codexis, meanwhile, announced that it is offering its 6m shares of IPO common stock for $13/share, which will be traded on NASDAQ. The synthetic biology company is developing biocatalysts (either enzymes or microbes) for use in producing advanced biofuels under a multi-year research and development collaboration with Shell, as well as biocatalysts for other bioindustrial markets, including carbon management, water treatment and chemicals.

More about Codexis in my previous Q&A post with president and CEO Alan Shaw. The company reported a 2009 revenue of $82.9m, up from the $52.5m posted in 2008. Net loss incurred by the company last year was $22.3m, down from the $45m level posted in 2008.

Dear readers:
School and work prevent me from being more blog-productive. Sorry! Hope the weekly news roundup will help make amends -Green Blogger

Commercial bio-ethyl acetate
Zeachem has produced commercial grade ethyl acetate from bio-based glacial acetic acid through an esterification reaction process. Ethyl acetate is primarily used as a solvent in paints, printing inks, pharmaceuticals and packaging and, through hydrogenation, can be refined into ethanol.

Green process for paper mills
Cerealus Holdings, in collaboration with the University of Maine, launched their bio-based technology Ceregel, a smart process proven technology that will provide paper mills with various optimization solutions enabling mills to save up to $14 per ton. The process was originally patented by DuPont and later developed by the UMaine Process Development Center.

Ethanol startup in California
Lurgi has started-up an ethanol facility for Calgren Renewable Fuels in Pixley, California, the only ethanol plant currently operating in the state. The plant, which is said to have one of the lowest carbon footprints of any ethanol plant in the US, will have annual production of 55m gal/year of fuel alcohol and 400,000 tons of animal feed.

More DOE grant
Verenium has been awarded an additional $4.9m from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to fund ongoing cellulosic technology and process optimization for its demonstration-scale facility in Jennings, Louisiana.

Lilly's green goals
Pharma company Eli Lilly says it has seen a 5% improvement in energy efficiency with a corresponding reduction in greenhouse gases, reduced the amount of waste sent to landfills by 56%, and achieved a 30% reduction in water intake compared to its 2007 baseline. The company's 5-year goal is to reduce GHG emissions by 15%, reduce amount of waste sent to landfills by 40%, and reduce water intake by 25%.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
Increased environmental awareness has boosted the US chemical industry to a leadership position in improving energy efficiency while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) said.

Germany is planning special aid worth some €600m ($810m) to help its solar and photovoltaic industry against foreign competition - a move that could partially reverse earlier plans to cut subsidies to that industry.

The petroleum industry will face an uphill battle with the lawsuits it filed against the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) renewable fuel mandate.

Just filed my article about Walmart's sustainability goals (and how it affects the chemical supply chain). Check that out on ICIS Chemical Business' May 10 issue. Now back to blogging!

I'm pretty sure there are plenty of green news out there trying to position themselves for Earth Day's 40th anniversary. I'll be busy scanning my Google reader and unread green emails for the weekend. But in the meantime, I saw this video tweeted by the American Chemical Society and really love the simple chemistry explanation behind bioplastics especially polylactic acid.

This could be a fantastic material to share for teaching purposes. Enjoy!

Interesting that after my post late last week regarding DNP's bio-succinic acid ventures in Asia, Cereplast announced today their bioplastic distribution deal with Chinese plastic company Vulcan Plastics Technology Co. Ltd. (the company is based in Hongkong under the name S&P Sourcing Co. Ltd).

Under the deal, Vulcan will distribute Cereplast's Compostables and Hybrids resins to converters and manufacturers in Guangdong and Fujian provinces, which are said to be one of the largest industrial plastic manufacturing centers in China.

In the press release, Cereplast noted that China's domestic plastic consumption is expected to reach 38.8m tonnes/year by 2012.

The question here is whether Chinese consumers are ready to pay premium for bioplastic products or will these end-products manufactured in China will be shipped back to US and Europe? That could screw up the whole carbon footprint picture (think about transportation emissions...).

Of course there are other Asian countries such as Japan and even Singapore who will not qualm as much on costs for premium-priced environment-friendly products. As DNP noted in my previous bio-succinic acid post, Japan is a potential big market for bio-based chemicals.

A busy week last week especially in Washington with the introduction of the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010. I'm sure we'll hear more of those in the coming days ahead.

This week's blog is going to be sparse again as I work on two deadlines, one of them is an insight on the impact of Walmart's sustainability strategies (especially their recent greenhouse gas emissions reductions goal) on the chemical supply chain. Hopefully this will be interesting to the readers so stay tune for that as it comes out on ICIS Chemical Business' May 10 issue.

For now, here are this week's news roundup:

Allylix new funding
Allylix completed its $9 million Series C financing, which it received from new investor Middleland Capital as well as existing investors Blue Grass Angels, Life Science Angels, Tech Coast Angels, Pasadena Angels and Tate & Lyle Ventures.

Former NatureWorks CEO in Genomatica
Genomatica has appointed Dennis McGrew as executive vice president of business development and chief business officer, and Joseph Kuterbach as the vice president of operations, engineering and technology transfer. McGrew formerly served as president and CEO of NatureWorks while Kuterbach is a career veteran of Lyondell Basell.

DuPont forms sustainable biz
DuPont has formed a new DuPont business, DuPont Sustainable Solutions, that will offer consulting services, training and technology offerings. The new organization integrates three former businesses -- DuPont Safety Resources, segments of DuPont Clean Technologies and Coastal Training Technologies.

Amyris new joint venture
Amyris Biotechnologies has established a joint venture with Grupo São Martinho called SMA Indústria Química S.A. The new company was created to build the first facility fully dedicated to the production of Amyris renewable products.

Sigma Aldrich offers bioplastic for meds
Sigma-Aldrich entered a distribution agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH to offer its portfolio of RESOMER biodegradable polylactide (PLA) and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) polymers to the research community.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
The US House Committee on Energy and Commerce summoned three chemical company chief executives to Washington for a hearing next month on whether flame retardants pose a human health hazard.

Consumer psychology is probably a bigger driver for eco-friendly paints and coatings than regulatory actions, a Rhodia executive said.

Futerro has inaugurated its polylactic acid (PLA) bioplastics production unit at Escanaffles, Belgium

Coatings with no byproducts are set to become the wave of the future, a Gelest executive said.

The newly introduced "Safe Chemicals Act of 2010" by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), which aims to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976 was the biggest news in the chemical industry yesterday.

Senator Lautenberg chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health. Here are the highlights of the bill:

• Provides EPA with sufficient information to judge a chemical's safety. Requires manufacturers to develop and submit a minimum data set for each chemical they produce, while also preventing duplicative or unnecessary testing. EPA will have full authority to request additional information needed to determine the safety of a chemical.

• Prioritizes chemicals based on risk. Calls on the EPA to categorize chemicals based on risk, and focus resources on evaluating those most likely to cause harm.

• Ensures safety threshold is met for all chemicals on the market. Places the burden of proof on chemical manufacturers to prove the safety of their chemicals. All uses must be identified and determined safe for the chemical to enter the market or continue to be used.

• Takes fast action to address highest risk chemicals. Requires EPA to take fast action to reduce risk from chemicals that have already been proven dangerous. In addition, the EPA Administrator is given authority to act quickly if any chemical poses an imminent hazard.

• Creates open access to reliable chemical information. Establishes a public database to catalog the information submitted by chemical manufacturers and the EPA's safety determinations. The EPA will impose requirements to ensure the information collected is reliable.

• Promotes innovation and development of green chemistry. Establishes grant programs and research centers to foster the development of safe chemical alternatives, and brings some new chemicals onto the market using an expedited review process.

Various trade groups ranging from chemicals to downstream consumer products agree that it is time to overhaul TSCA but they also expressed their concerns in allowing states to adopt their own "regulations" concerning chemicals in commerce under the pre-emption provision, as well as the type of standards being proposed for EPA's decision-making process. (Check out ICIS News article for more on this topic -- this one has free access).

Here is one response from the American Chemistry Council (ACC):

A coalition of public health and environmental groups also put out a statement supporting the bill but pointing out some of the areas that need revisions:

• Allow hundreds of new chemicals to enter the market and be used in products for many years without first requiring them to be shown to be safe.

• Not provide clear authority for EPA to immediately restrict production and use of the most dangerous chemicals, even persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals, which already have been extensively studied and are restricted by governments around the world.

• Not require EPA to adopt the National Academy of Sciences' recommendations to incorporate the best and latest science when determining the safety of chemicals, although the Senate bill does call on EPA to consider those recommendations.

Got this news from DNP Green Technology this morning about new activities from their bio-succinic joint venture Bioamber.

Bioamber's bio-based succinic acid products are already being spread out in Asia with the help of DNP's acquisition of Sinoven Biopolymers last February. Sinoven will manufacture modified polybutylene succinate (mPBS) in China using Bioamber's bio-succinic acid.

DNP said they are looking to partner their mPBS technology with a leading producer of PBS in order to build a large scale modification plant in proximity to a PBS plant.

This morning, Bioamber announced that it has chosen Japanese chemical trading firm Mitsui & Co. to further distribute their bio-succinic acid throughout Asia. According to DNP Green president Jean-Francois Huc, the Asian market is a difficult market for Western companies to penetrate but Mitsui will be able to do the job.

DNP Green says (in a brief interview) that they expect Japan and China to be the two largest countries where bio-succinic acid demand will come from.

"We have seen strong interest for our product in these countries through Mitsui and is why we think this announcement is so significant for selling our current production and for a much larger plant from us." - DNP Green Technology

These are separate projects from the recently announced bio-succinic acid based deicer plant being constructed in Canada with GreenField Ethanol. The plant is expected to have a capacity of 32m liters/year and to start operations by the 2011/12 winter season.

[Photo of Bioamber's bio-succinic acid plant in France]

This is a very cool development from Argonne National Laboratory and could make plastic bags even more valuable.

Argonne chemist Vilas Pol found a way to recycle waste plastic bags into either carbon nanotubes (using a cobalt-based catalyst) or carbon spheres, which can be used in various applications such as electronics, paints, printers, lubricants and even components of rubber tire threads.

Carbon nanotubes, however, can be used as an anode material for lithium batteries.

Check out the video for more info:

As part of my bisphenol-A (BPA) article published March 29 on ICIS Chemical Business (ICB), here is my interview with John. M. Rost, chairman of the North American Metal Packaging Alliance (NAMPA). Some of the blog's faithful readers might recall NAMPA on the spotlight of a certain Milwaukee newspaper last year.

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Q: Several food companies and even retailers such as Walmart are moving to phase out BPA in their products, how is NAMPA addressing this development?

Rost: NAMPA fully supports the continued safe use of epoxy coatings for metal packaged foods. Regulatory bodies around the world have deemed BPA-based epoxy coatings to be safe in their current applications; this includes recent reviews by Health Canada, US FDA, European Food Safety Authority, as well as regulatory agencies in Japan and Germany.

NAMPA is also aware of consumer's increasing demand for alternative coatings for metal packaged foods, despite this record of success. NAMPA members are engaged in research programs to deliver those alternatives to consumers who request them. This must be done in the safest manner possible and not be immediate due to testing requirements and regulatory procedures to ensure the safety of any new product.

The current epoxy coatings have an unprecedented safety record when it comes to protecting food from real food safety issues like food borne illnesses . Whether industry is able to develop an alternative that allows for the same level of shelf-life afforded by epoxy resin is yet to be seen.

Q: Is NAMPA encouraging chemical companies to develop alternatives for BPA in canned food packaging applications? What alternatives are currently being considered in this application?

Rost: NAMPA fully supports the continued safe use of epoxy coatings for metal packaged foods. But like any industry, NAMPA member companies are constantly working with their suppliers to develop new an innovative materials and processes to advance metal packaging. Metal packaging has been around for over 200 years and only through this innovation has it continued to be one of the most trusted and sustainable forms of packaging. NAMPA members embrace that innovation and are working to ensure that any consumer demand for coating alternatives are met, but also that it is done in the safest manner possible.

Q: What is the economical impact to the metal packaging industry of a possible BPA ban in canned food packaging not only in states but in federal level? What other implications would result if a ban will be implemented?

Rost: The economic impact of any ban on BPA would likely be felt most directly by the consumer. If a ban was to go into place prior to availability any fully developed and tested alternative coatings, one result would likely be significant decreases in shelf life of the packaged foods. This decrease would dramatically increase the amount of food waste therefore increasing overall food cost for everyday consumers and their families.

Q: What do you think the group, as well as the chemical industry, should have done differently in avoiding this type of issue to escalate?

Rost: The BPA issue is and should continue to be a scientific question. The vast majority of scientist and all regulatory agencies in the world consider the current uses of BPA to be safe. As this issue continues to spill over into the political arena, the scientific data often becomes clouded or disappears entirely. This could have dramatic consequences and set a precedent that would be detrimental to product safety and public policy. The vast majority of consumers trust the regulatory scientists who have been entrusted to protect their health and safety. These scientific experts in public health and toxicology are best suited to review the data and make recommendations to policymakers based on the data.

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Here is a video from the NAMPA website (I did not do this interview). I was looking for a photo to accompany this post but decided to use this one instead.

I've reported this in ICIS News during my trip to Wacker Chemie's Burghausen, Germany, plant late last March, but for those who doesn't have subscription, here's your chance to get some information for free.

During the trip, Wacker's senior vice president of R&D, Fridolin Stary, noted that their 500 ton/year ACEO bio-acetic acid pilot plant in Burghausen has already been up and running for the past six months and that they are licensing the technology for those who are interested.

Wacker has been investigating three biobased acetic acid route:

• ACEO Process - involves a biomass feedstock being converted to ethanol (using yeast) and producing acetic acid via gas phase oxidation process (see partial diagram below)
  

• Fermentation to Butanediol - Ferments biomass feedstock using bacteria to butane 2,3 diol, which could be then dehydrated to produce methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) or directly produce acetic acid via gas phase oxidation. Acetic acid from MEK is also possible via gas phase oxidation.

• Homoacetate Fermentation - Ferments biomass feedstock to acetate/acetic acid using bacteria.

And since this process could already produce bio-ethanol, the next logical step is to work on producing bio-ethylene, another key chemical aside from acetic acid for Wacker's polymer products that include vinyl acetate (VAE), vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), polyvinyl acetate (PVA), polyvinyl alcohol solutions, dispersions and dispersible polymer powders, vinyl chloride copolymers and terpolymers (among others).

Among my news roundup this week, I separated this one about biobutanol from Cobalt Technologies as it sounds really interesting.

Cobalt said it was able to create biobutanol fuel using beetle-killed lodgepole pine feedstock. The company signed a fuel testing deal with Colorado State University to test the butanol's viability for commercial vehicles.

Mountain pine beetles are said to have been infecting nearly half of Colorado's five million acres of pine forest. Millions of acres of lodgepole and ponderosa pines across the Western United States and Canada have also been infested, according to Cobalt.

Instead of leaving the dead trees as potential fire hazard, Cobalt said it could use them to make biobutanol. Half of the 2.3m acres affected in Colorado could produce over 2bn gallons of biobutanol -- enough to blend into all the gasoline used in Colorado for six years, says Cobalt.

"Converting beetle-killed pine for biofuels is an extremely difficult process," said Ken Reardon, professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Colorado State University. "If Cobalt can convert beetle-killed wood, it's likely that the company can make biofuel from almost any cellulosic feedstock."

It's a little rare these days for me to be able to post the Weekly News Roundup on Monday so I'm patting myself in the back. Lots of green goodies from last week by the way.

Verdezyne in ethanol deal
Industrial biotech company Verdezyne and Lallemand Ethanol Technology signed a deal to develop and commercialize genetically enhanced high-yield ethanol producing yeast. Verdezyne will use its metabolic engineering tools to rapidly introduce a proprietary pathway into an industrial yeast strain provided by Lallemand.

Purac starts lactide construction
CSM and its subsidiary Purac officially started construction of its new 75,000 tons/year lactide plant in Thailand. The plant will produce monomers for bioplastics such as polylactic acid (PLA). It will start up in the second half of 2011.

Nissan to build EV battery plant
Nissan North America selected W.G. Yates of Philadelphia, Miss., as the general contractor supporting the pre-construction services phase for Nissan's new battery plant in Smyrna, Tenn. The battery plant will support the assembly of the Nissan LEAF, the first in a range of forthcoming Nissan electric vehicles (EVs) which will be built at the Smyrna plant in late 2012.

Hexion's new epoxy plant for wind market
Hexion Specialty Chemicals opened its new specialty epoxy resin production facility in Esslingen, Germany. The plant produces specialty epoxy resins and bonding pastes used in the manufacture of large-dimension composite wind turbine blades for the wind energy market.

Cereplast in Nasdaq
Bioplastic company Cereplast received approval to list its common stock on the NASDAQ Capital Market. The company's stock trading symbol will remain "CERP." Cereplast expects its shares to start trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market this week.

Showa Shell Solar renamed
Japanese solar company Showa Shell Solar has renamed itself as Solar Frontier, the CIS (copper-indium-selenium) photovoltaic module manufacturer. The company is also investing in Germany and will open its first European office in Munich sometime this year.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new restrictions on aluminum and magnesium phosphide pesticide products.

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) downplayed news that Brazil has temporarily eliminated its 20% tariff on ethanol, saying Brazil's trade policy is shaky and the country is unlikely to ever import ethanol because of the size of its market.

The EPA plans to add 16 chemicals to its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) list of reportable chemicals, the first expansion of the program in over a decade.

I was starting on my Weekly News Roundup this morning when I found this email in my spam box (thank goodness I scan my spam mails first before emptying the folder!).

US resin company PolyOne announced today their development partnership with Segetis aiming to explore renewable-based plasticizers. The agreement will leverage Segetis' bio-based levulinic ketal technology.

"This relationship with PolyOne is a win for the marketplace," comments Snehal Desai, Segetis business vice president. "The need for bio-based performance plasticizers is there, both for use in petroleum-based resins as well as bio-derived resin systems. We recognize that combining PolyOne's global leadership in bio-based compounding with Segetis' proprietary technology will result in an expanded breadth of performance resins."

It seems to me that PolyOne's R&D has been really busy the past few years as I've been encountering several biopolymer additives launched, which I, of course put into the monthly new green chemicals (just use the search bar and they'll pop up).

A recent one that I'm planning to include in the April list is their new reSound biopolymer compounds for durable applications. The plastic additives incorporate up to 50% bio-derived content by weight and can be used in both petroleum-based and bioplastic resins such as polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and biopolyesters.

The additives are already commercially available worldwide since end of March.

I did promise to post some of my interviews from my recent bisphenol-A article on ICIS Chemical Business (ICB) so here's one about a possible alternative to BPA in epoxy resins.

Michael Jaffe, professor of biomedical engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), has developed a derivative of corn-based isosorbide that has the potential to replace BPA-based epoxy resins in a number of consumer products, including the lining of tin cans.

NJIT's patent "Thermoset epoxy polymers from renewable resources" (US Patent 7,619,056) awarded in November 2009 claimed that the derivative bisglycidyl ethers can be a potential substitute for BPA in the manufacture of thermoset epoxy ethers.

"The epoxy includes a water-soluble resin of glycidyl ethers of plant-derived anhydrosugars and a water-soluble curing agent (either plant-derived polyamines or polycarboxylic acids or their derivatives) for curing the resin. The epoxy is cured by baking at an elevated temperature."

A spokesperson for NJIT said that ICPB only provided support for the research and is a licensee of the technology. I guess ICPB's press release threw me off.

Anyway, here are some of my conversation with Michael Jaffe regarding their technology:
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Q: When and how did this research first took place?

Jaffe: The research was initiated about four years ago as a partnership between the Iowa corn Promotion Board and scientists on the faculty of the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Q: What are the next steps and milestones that NJIT and ICPB are working on in ultimately putting this new epoxy resins to the market?

Jaffe: The next steps are to validate the material performance in partnership with appropriate companies in the epoxy industry. This involves materials scale-up and industry relevant testing of both materials performance and materials safely.

Q: Are there any specific chemical companies or food packaging companies that NJIT/ICPB are currently in dialogue with for this new technology? When do you expect commercialization of this new technology to take place?

Jaffe: Yes. If all goes well commercialization in a two to three year time frame is envisioned.

Q: What challenges the researchers are currently working on in order for this new epoxy resin to be competitive in terms of performance and economy compared to BPA-contained epoxy resins?

Jaffe: Challenges include making suitable volumes of the material available at attractive pricing and to create an industry relevant database that qualifies the product in food contact applications. Food contact though should not be the sole focus. This epoxy resin will be tested to verify it meets specifications for a broad range of applications.

Yes, I know this is very late but is still worthwhile posting for those on the hunt for new green materials and chemicals...

1. Novozymes bioinsecticide - Novozymes launched its bio-insecticide Met52® Granular in Canada. Met52 is a contact insecticide against black vine weevil larvae and strawberry root weevil for the professional greenhouse and nursery industries.

2. EUCODIS new enzyme - EUCODIS has introduced a panel of phospholipases, a group of enzymes that are widely used in the industrial processing of natural fats and oils. The market for phospholipases is estimated at EUR 40m ($54m).

3. Evonik's castor polyamide - Evonik has introduced a polyamide 1010, VESTAMID® Terra DS produced entirely from monomers obtained from castor oil. Applications include special cables for the automotive industry, underground cables, in which case the bio-polyamide protects against damage caused by gnawing rodents, and polymer optical fibers.

4. Rhodia green coating additives - Rhodia launched its Rhodoline® OTE, APE-free and zero-VOC additives, that extend waterborne coating open time two to four fold and enables the formulation of highly performing low to zero-VOC coatings. This additive has been developed to design sustainable coatings, being compliant with Green Seal (GS-11) or EU eco-label requirement.

5. Lati's PLA compounds - LATI has introduced the LATIGEA family, a brand new range of thermoplastic compounds produced from polylactic acid.

6. BioSolar bio-backsheets - BioSolar has expanded its line of biobased-backsheets for photovoltaic module manufacturing that now includes a multi-layer BioBacksheet-C for conventional applications, and a new mono-layer BioBacksheet product line for premium applications.

My Wacker Chemie sustainability stories are still in the line-up but with this news from Bayer MaterialScience last week about their eco-friendly electrochemical chlorine production, I might as well include some tidbits from Wacker's chlorine production as well.

Bayer said it is building a new chlorine plant that uses common salt with annual capacity of 20,000 metric tons/year at its Chempark Krefeld-Uerdingen in Germany. The new facility will use a oxygen depolarized cathode technology, which the company said, will reduce electricity consumption by up to 30% lower than in standard membrane technology, resulting in an indirect reduction of up to 10,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year.

Like what Wacker mentioned during my press field trip to their Burghausen, Germany, site, chlorine production is currently one of the most energy-intensive processes in the chemical industry. Currently, chlorine is mainly produced using the membrane process.

Bayer said their new technology enables electrolysis to be performed at a lower voltage. The company has been using its oxygen depolarized cathode technology based on hydrochloric acid electrolysis on a large industrial scale at the Bayer Integrated Site Shanghai (BISS) in China and in Brunsbuettel, Germany. The Chempark chlorine facility is scheduled to start operating in the first half of 2011.

Now for Wacker's chlorine production in Burghausen, Germany, (if I understand my scribbled notes correctly), is that they also use common rock salt that came from their own salt mine in Stetten as raw material.

The salt goes to a an ion-exchange membrane electrolysis process that consumes about 2,200 KWh/ton of NaOH. This process, according to Wacker, is 25% more energy efficient compared with mercury and asbestos processes. The facility produces 155 tons/day of chlorine and 170 tons/day of caustic soda

Now, based on these information, it seems the Bayer processing is greener but there are other factors to be considered such as sustainability of energy source perhaps? or how does a facility uses their chlorine, the waste streams if they can be recycled, logistics and sustainable sourcing of raw materials, and so on and so forth...I'm not an expert in chemical processing so I leave it to the readers to decide.

The good news is that major chemical companies are always trying to improve their processing especially if they can save money (by reducing energy use) and lower their GHG emissions at the same time.

[Photo 1 from Bayer, Photo 2 from Wacker]

I'm not sure what's in the air (or maybe make it under the sun) these days but I just saw news from Bayer MaterialScience and DuPont talking about solar airplane and solar boat projects. I guess solar roofs are too boring nowadays ;-)

Bayer said it has become an official partner of the Solar Impulse project, which aims to create the world's first manned solar airplane that will fly around the world purely fueled by solar energy. The plane will carry an impressive 12,000 solar cells covering its surface to run 4 electrical engines and store the solar energy for the night in 400 kilograms of lithium batteries.

Some of Bayer's materials will include Baytubes® carbon nanotubes that could increase battery performance and improve the strength of structural components while keeping their weight to a minimum, innovative adhesives, polyurethane rigid foams for paneling in the cockpit and engine, and extremely thin yet break-resistant polycarbonate films and sheet for the cockpit glazing.

DuPont said it will provide innovative photovoltaic modules and high-performance marine coatings to PlanetSolar, expected to be the largest solar boat ever built. The boat will undertake the first world tour powered by solar energy in 2011.

PlanetSolar is a 31 meter-long and 15 meter-wide catamaran covered by 500 square meters of photovoltaic solar panels that will power an electric motor. Some of DuPont's materials in the boat will include Tedlar® polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) film, used as a component of the photovoltaic backsheet; the cockpit have been painted with DuPont™ PercoTop® 449, a topcoat system, while the external structure was painted with DuPont ™ Imron® Marine. The coatings are said to be specifically developed for marine conditions.

The solar cells, about 38,000 of them, is from SunPower Corp. Each cell, according to SunPower, offers an efficiency of at least 22%, said to be the highest efficiency solar cells commercially available. PlanetSolar is expected to embark on its round-the-world tour in early 2011.

FYI, the market for advanced chemicals and materials used in photovoltaic solar cells and modules is expected to grow 27% to reach $3.1 billion in 2010 and approximately $15 billion by 2015, according to a report from Linx-AEI Consulting. End market demand for solar power is expected to grow from 5.8 GW to 38 GW by 2015.

Here's a cool video of PlanetSolar:

I'm back from zombie land and now ready to blog again. This morning I had an interesting conversation with DSM spokesman Herman Betten and he promised to have some green goodies (news I mean) coming up next week so we'll stay tune for that.

Meanwhile, three companies came up with some nice green bucks the past few days, two courtesy of the US Department of Energy (DOE). Both Novomer and Myriant announced this week that they received federal funds from the DOE.

Novomer said it has been awarded $2.1m in the first phase of a potential $25m federal stimulus grant for sustainable materials production from the DOE. The funding will help Novomer's waste CO2-based polymers and polyols development.

As you recall from a January post, DSM has also invested in Novomer's CO2-based polycarbonate resins development.

Novomer's project will be carried out in two phases. The first one is a six-month, $2.6 million project that includes a 20 percent industry cost share. Novomer is preparing an application for a follow-on Phase two award which could total $23MM. Phase two, a 24-month, approximately $23 million project, is subject to further DOE evaluation and approval.

Myriant, on the other hand, has finally received the first of the promised $50m grant from the DOE announced in December last year. The funding is geared for the company's planned biobased succinic acid facility in Lake Providence, Louisiana. Design engineering for the plant has been finished and start of construction is expected by September 2010.

Myriant says the facility, which will use both local sorghum and CO2 as feedstock, is expected to become the world's largest biobased succinic acid plant. Recalling from previous post, target applications for their succinic acid include butanediol (with current market estimated at 2bn lbs), adipic acid (6bn lbs), biodegradable polymers and other drop-in applications (70m lbs). I don't think I've gotten any capacity numbers for the plant though.

Last but certainly not the least, sugar-based chemicals and fuel developer Amyris Biotechnologies announced last week that it was able to get $47.8m funding from Singapore venture capital firm Temasek Holdings. Amyris said it will use the funds to support commercial plant design and construction activities as well as ongoing operations in the U.S. and Brazil.

Last year in December, Amyris made a deal with Brazil-based sugar and ethanol producers Bunge, Cosan and Açúcar Guaranz, with the purpose of partnering for the production of high value renewable specialty chemicals and fuels. These products will be distributed by Amyris.

I'm still feeling crappy but the blog needs attention so here are this week's news roundup. I'm also hoping to be able to post my Wacker Chemie trip, overview of the Jefferson Clean Tech conference held last month, and interesting bioplastic presentations from the Chemicals Marketing & Economics group (CM&E) conference that I attended last week.

Shell pays up on emissions fine
Shell Chemical L.P. and Shell Chemical Yabucoa will pay a combined $3.3m civil penalty to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as to Alabama and Louisiana, and $200,000 to Louisiana organizations for environmental education and emergency operations as part of two Clean Air Act settlements. The companies will also install pollution reduction equipment on two petroleum refining facilities at an estimated cost of $6m.

Verenium and BP extends deal
Verenium and BP have extended their joint cellulosic ethanol development program established in August 2008 for an additional four months. Verenium will receive $2.5 million per month from BP to co-fund the cellulosic ethanol program through the end of the extension period.

GM in jatropha biodiesel R&D
General Motors made a five-year partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to help develop the potential of the jatropha plant for biodiesel use. Two jatropha farms will be established in India: a 16-hectare plot in Bhavngar and a 38 hectare plot in Kalol, near GM's India Car Manufacturing plant. An existing 30 hectare jatropha farm in Bhavnagar also will be managed under this project.

UOP and Indian Oil on biofuels
Honeywell's UOP has partnered with Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOCL) in biofuels research and development projects in India. The companies would evaluate installation of a demonstration-scale unit to produce green transportation fuels at an existing IOCL site using non-food feedstocks such as biomass, lignocellulosic materials and algal oils available within India.

Air Products Korean hydrogen station
Air Products signed a contract with SK Energy to construct a hydrogen fueling station for a novel energy project to be based in World Cup Park in Seoul, South Korea. The hydrogen fueling station to be onstream in July 2010 will supply hydrogen produced solely from landfill gas to fuel a fleet of vehicles.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
Malaysian producer Emery Oleochemicals may build up to two new plants and acquire businesses as part of the company's five-year plan.

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has begun the startup process of its renewable propylene glycol (PG) plant, but does not expect it to be fully operational until the second quarter.

Global synthetic rubber prices may surge on likely strong orders from tire-makers looking for a cheaper alternative raw material to natural rubber.

California is seeking to develop a final regulation and implement its green chemistry initiative by the end of this year, prompting consideration of similar regulations by the US federal government and other states.

The green blogger is out of commission for a while. Will try to recover soon.