October 2010 Archives

Several bioplastic development announced last week at the Olympics of Plastic and Rubber industry tradeshow  "K" held in Dusseldorf, Germany. A separate post will come out for that.

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

Telles, the joint venture company of Metabolix and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has launched Mirel™ F3002, a thermoforming bioplastic grade for use in food contact applications. This extends Mirel's product range in the food service and food packaging market sector.

Enerkem has completed the U.S. federal environmental assessment requirements for its Mississippi waste-to-ethanol plant, which allows the Company to move forward with the project. Construction work for the plant is expected to begin in 2011.

Engineering for pyrolysis plant
Honeywell's Envergent Technologies has been selected by High North BioResources to engineer the world's largest fast pyrolysis plant in Alberta, Canada, which will produce renewable heat and electricity using wood residuals. The plant will process 400 bone-dry tonnes/day of saw mill residuals to produce over 20m gal/year of pyrolysis oil.

Codexis acquired the directed evolution intellectual property portfolio of Maxygen, which it has been licensing since 2002. Codexis will now be able to pursue application of its directed evolution biocatalysis technology platform beyond its current markets to all fields of use, including chemicals.

Grupo KUO and Repsol YPF has formed a joint venture named KUOSOL, S.A. DE C.V. ("KUOSOL") based in Mexico which will focus on developing bioenergy using jatropha. The new firm's activities will involve from agronomical operation to the industrial installation. US producer Eastman plans to expand its Tritan copolymer production capacity by the end of next year to meet growing demand.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered how a rare molecule can store solar energy indefinitely and then release it on demand as a chemicals-based heat battery.

Increasing demand from solar cell manufacturers was a leading factor in Ferro's decision to raise its 2010 earnings estimate.

I've been seeing a lot of investments this year on lithium-related production capacity coming from the chemical industry especially here in the US.

Today, BASF broke ground on a $50+ million facility in Elyria, Ohio, to produce Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese (NCM) cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries that can power hybrid and full-electric vehicles. The investment has the help of $24.6 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

BASF said it expects the plant to be the most advanced cathode materials production plant in North America when it is fully operational in 2012.

In October 5, Rockwood initiated the expansion of its battery-grade lithium hydroxide production operations in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. The plant is being built at the existing Chemetall Foote Kings Mountain production site, which currently produces other lithium salts and lithium metal for primary batteries.

The project is expected to be complete in 2012. This is also funded in part by a $28.4 million grant from the DOE.

Rockwood's Chemetall business is also currently expanding its lithium carbonate production operation in Silver Peak, Nevada, funded partly by a $28.4m grant from the DOE. This project is expected to be completed in 2013.

On June 21, Dow Chemical's Dow Kokam business broke ground for a new lithium ion batteries production facility in Midland, Michigan. The first phase of construction, supported by a $161m DOE grant, will produce batteries with target capacity of 600m watt hours. Total battery capacity of 1.2bn watt hours is expected after completion of the facility.

First battery batch produced are expected in early 2012. Dow Kokam, by the way, is owned by The Dow Chemical Company, TK Advanced Battery LLC and Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault.

German chemical company Sud-Chemie invested this year EUR60 million ($82.6m) in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) production in Candiac, Quebec, a site owned by its subsidiary Phostech Lithium.

Commercial production for series delivery will start in 2012 to reach a rate of 2,500 tons per year. Sud-Chemie said this volume will allow the production of approximately 50,000 all-electric automobiles or, alternatively, up to 500,000 vehicles with hybrid drive per year.

Because of high demand, Süd-Chemie is also planning to expanding its production capacity for LFP at its site in Moosburg, Germany. The company is already currently manufacturing up to 300 tons/year of LFP at this site.

By the way, Ford said it has selected Compact Power Inc. (CPI), a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Chem, this year as the supplier of lithium-ion battery packs for the 2011 Ford Focus Electric for the U.S. market

CPI, based in Troy, Mich., will begin battery pack assembly for the Focus Electric next year and is finalizing production site selection in the U.S. The lithium-ion cells initially will be manufactured in Korea by CPI parent company LG Chem. LG Chem and CPI will be localizing cell production at their new site in Holland, Michigan.

I received this news yesterday about Elevance teaming up with surfactant producer Stepan on the development and marketing of surfactants, antimicrobials and polyurethane polyols using Elevance's proprietary feedstock 9-decenoic esters and C18 dibasic ester.

I wrote an article for ICIS News but I couldn't find it so since we adhere to the blog's motto of Zero-waste, here is the article for free:

-------------------------
Elevance and Stepan to market novel surfactants and PUs

US Elevance Renewable Sciences and surfactant firm Stepan plan to commercialize surfactants, antimicrobials and polyurethane polyols using 9-decenoic and C18 dibasic esters for feedstock, company officials announced on Tuesday.

Stepan said it will utilize their existing global network and manufacturing sites to bring the products out to the market.

"Our recently expanded operations in Asia would be considered a future targeted production region for surfactants, antimicrobials and polyols commercialized from this technology," said Scott Behrens, vice president, business management at Stepan.

In July, Stepan acquired a 100,000 tonne/year methyl ester plant in Singapore from German oleochemicals producer Peter Cremer GmbH. Also that month, Stepan increased its ownership in a Philippine surfactants joint venture Stepan Philippines Inc. with United Coconut Chemicals.

Stepan will provide its expertise in sulfonation, esterification and quaternization processes in the production of the novel surfactants, antimicrobials and polyls, said Elevance CEO K'Lynne Johnson.

Elevance produces the intermediate chemical 9-decenoic esters and acids via its proprietary metathesis technology using various natural oils and waste oils as raw materials. The 9-decenoic acid (9-DA) is then used to produce C18 dibasic acids and esters.

Traditionally produced 9-decenoic acid from fermentation processing is priced at about $1,000/kg, according to Elevance. The company's 9-DA is in the range of $5/kg, which enables development of new uses from the product.

For Stepan going through this development is out of the norm for the company, said surfactant consultant Neil A. Burns of New Jersey, US-based Neil A. Burns LLC.

"Stepan has been successful by taking a conservative approach to their business. Either this means Stepan is stepping outside their comfort zone, or they view the Elevance technology as a potential mainstream game-changer in surfactants. I think it's a bit of both," said Burns.

By Doris de Guzman

This week, ICIS Chemical Business features its rubber and plastics issue and the green blog's contribution of course is about bioplastics. There are several inquiries about the article so I might have to follow that up with a blog post (hopefully).

I am also working on consumer packaging, which of course, seems to also center on bioplastic so stay tune for that on November 15.

For now here are this week's news roundup:

Algenol Biofuels opened its new 40,000 square-foot biofuels and green chemistry lab and R&D facility. The facility houses an advanced algae biology, engineering, carbon dioxide (CO2) and green chemistry laboratory, as part of the larger Lee Integrated Biorefinery.

Petrobras and Novozymes entered an agreement to develop a new route to produce second generation biofuel from sugarcane bagasse. The agreement covers the development of enzymes and production processes to produce second generation lignocellulosic ethanol from bagasse in an enzymatic process.

EcoBlu Products is expanding production capacity of its wood products coated with eco-friendly fire retardant coatings in Colton, California. The company is adding coating lines in the facility because of increase recent order for the wood products.

Pacific Ethanol plans to resume operations at its idled 60m gal/year facility in Stockton, California in December. The company also plans to resume operations at its 40m gal/year facility in Madera, California as market conditions continue to improve.

Polish chemical group Ciech and French construction materials giant Lafarge have started production at a 'green cement' plant that recycles high-carbon industrial fly ash from a sodium carbonate plant into base material for cement. The joint venture (JV) in Inowroclaw, central Poland, also converts low-carbon fly ash from the sodium carbonate production into fuel for generating heat.

Shell and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will invest $25 million in the research and development of high value, sustainable technologies designed to drive innovation in energy delivery. The projects will focus on advanced modeling, earth science, biofuels, nanotechnology and carbon management.

The European Chemicals Agency's (ECHA) Reach registration deadline is not expected to cause supply chain disruptions, the UK's Chemical Industries Association (CIA) said.

The European Commission has pushed up its limit on the number of emission allowances that will be available under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in 2013.

Officials from petrochemical majors SABIC and Dow Chemical said that achieving sustainable supply chains is crucial for producers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region to address their future needs responsibly.

The green blog still has Anellotech (tech - Biomass to aromatics) and Arzeda (tech -biocatalysts) to cover based on their presentations from the Biobased Chemicals East conference, but let's start with this very intriguing company Siluria - their technology is based on a breakthrough catalyst that can convert natural gas specifically methane to ethylene.

I was able to talk to CEO Alex Tkachenko who explained to me how their catalyst works. Siluria is a Silicon Valley-based start up company that begun in 2008 as a spin-off from Cambrios Technologies co-founded by MIT bioengineer Angela Belcher.

Cambrios currently focuses on commercializing a transparent electrode from  solar cells and other electronic devices using Belcher's technique for genetically engineering viruses and manipulating those virus to grow materials with unique properties (the virus collects and coats materials such as metals and carbon nanotubes forming nanowires with unique surface morphologies).
 

In Siluria's case, a unique nanowire catalyst was designed and grown using inexpensive inorganic metals that has the properties to efficiently activate methane to form ethylene in a milder condition ( a couple of hundred degrees lower) compared to using existing catalysts.

With Siluria's technology, not only can they produce ethylene at a greatly reduced energy costs, they can also use a widely abundant feedstock - methane, therefore, reducing feedstock costs as well, said Tkachenko.

"The atomic arrangement of the surface of the catalyst that we grow are much more diverse and more versatile than conventional synthetic technique. As a result, we were able to discover from our library of catalysts, the specific ones that run the methane-to-ethylene reaction at several hundred degrees lower at high selectivity..." - Tkachenko

I tried to find similar research on methane-to-ethylene production and according to ICIS Chemical Intelligence, the problem with this processing, called oxidative coupling of methane (OCM), is the low per-pass yield of ethylene and the high yield of unwanted carbon oxide by-products such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Tkachenko said, they were able to bypass this problem because of the lower temperature conditions which kept the methane from burning up.

Ethylene is currently commercially produced by the steam cracking of a wide range of hydrocarbon feedstocks. In Europe and Asia, ethylene is obtained mainly from cracking naphtha, gasoil and condensates with the coproduction of propylene, C4 olefins and aromatics (pyrolysis gasoline). The cracking of ethane and propane, primarily carried out in the US, Canada and the Middle East, has the advantage that it only produces ethylene and propylene, making the plants cheaper to construct and less complicated to operate.

Except for the nature of their catalyst and the use of methane, Tkachenko said, their ethylene production will not be dramatically different from how it is chemically manufactured. Here is another article about Siluria from Technology Review that explains how their catalyst works.

According to Siluria, ethylene is worth $160bn/year and 140m tones/year are used annually.

Last Tuesday, Siluria announced that it closed its series A round of financing scooping $13.3m from venture firms such as Alloy Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Altitude Life Sciences, and Lux Capital. Presidio Ventures, the venture arm of Sumitomo also joined the investment.

Tkachenko said they are currently optimizing their catalyst and expects to reach a desired commercial performance level sometime next year. The next step after that is to develop the system around the use of the catalyst, where Tkachenko said they are already starting, and the last stage is commercialization via multiple partnerships and joint ventures.

"We are not just going to license our technology, we will undoubtedly be involved in the commercial development and commercialization of the process by partnerships and JVs in the right time," said Tkachenko.

Partners involved could be from owners of natural gas resources, petrochemical refiners, to consumers of polymers and plastics. He added that the series A round enables them to increase the value of the company by completing optimization of the catalyst.

My colleague Clay Boswell has been sending me news from Toyota Tsusho for the past several days now about the company planning to setup an integrated bio-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET) supply chain using bioethanol as feedstock source.

First of all, I recalled Toyota Tsusho as one of Braskem's bio-PE marketing partners focused specifically for the Asian market so I guess that solves some of the upstream supply chain puzzle. Based in Nagoya City, Japan, Toyota Tsusho is a trading company setup by the Toyota Group.

On October 7, Toyota Tsusho announced their formation of a 50-50 joint venture deal with Taiwan-based chemical company China Man-made Fiber Corp. (CMFC) to establish Greencol Taiwan Corp. (GTC), which will produce and sell monoethylene glycol (MEG) using sugar-based ethanol as feedstock.

The ethanol will be secured by Toyota Tsusho from Brazil. Greencol will produce the bio-MEG in a new facility in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, which is scheduled to start in late 2011.

The bio-MEG will be handled and supplied by Toyota Tsusho to PET toll manufacturers in Asia, and the off-take bio-PET will then be marketed by the company to end users in Japan, Europe and the US. Capacity of the bio-MEG was not disclosed but Toyota Tsusho expects to toll-produce and sell 200,000 tons/year of bio-PET by late 2011.

Here is how it would look like:

The company expects their bio-PET capacity to increase to 1m tons/year in the near future depending on the growth of bio-PET market. Toyota Tsusho estimated the global PET demand in 2009 at 45m tons/year and is expected to grow by 8%/year to 60m tons/year as of 2015, with demand mostly coming from developing countries for the next 5 years.

"It is anticipated that bio-PET demand will account for 5% of this global market at 2.25m-3m tons/year." - Toyota Tshusho

In terms of specific Bio-PET applications, Toyota Tshusho will also sell bio-PET based textiles for vehicle interiors, which are co-developed with Toyota Motor. Toyota Tshusho will also develop bio-based PET bottles with end customers.

PET is made from 70% purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and 30% MEG by weight. So I guess, there is still the 70% material waiting for bio-based sourcing unless Avantium will step in to replace that with their 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA).

We've all heard about Verdezyne and Rennovia talking about the possibilities of creating 100% biological-based nylon with renewable-based adipic acid, and I wonder if this latest news from Genomatica will also place the company in the bio-adipic acid race.

The blog will talk to Genomatica about this soon but in the meantime, the company released a statement yesterday about receiving from the US Patent and Trademark Office (US PTO) two foundational patents, one, demonstrating production of cost-economic green nylon, and the other about syngas-based chemicals production.

Patent number 7,799,545, titled "Microorganisms for the production of adipic acid and other compounds," describes production of adipic acid and 6-aminocaproic acid (6-ACA) via organisms that use renewable based feedstock. The intermediate chemicals can then be used to produce nylon 6,6 and nylon 6, respectively.

Patent number 7,803,589, titled "Methods and organisms for utilizing synthesis gas or other gaseous carbon sources and methanol," describes how to engineer an organism to use syngas as a feedstock to make green chemical products.

Genomatica said syngas is generally less expensive than other renewable feedstocks, and can be sourced from a wide variety of raw materials including biomass or municipal solid waste - garbage. Traditional conversion of syngas to chemicals could only be done through energy-intensive chemical processing techniques and can only produce specific chemical products, according to the company.

"Genomatica's invention provides a platform for creation of numerous, major high-value chemicals, at lower cost."

Genomatica's CEO Christophe Schilling recently wrote a commentary piece for Forbes.com stating the changing landscape of the chemical industry as major powerhouses such as DuPont, BASF and Dow Chemical are now investing in bio-based chemicals manufacturing.

[Photo of Enerkem's plant producing syngas from municipal solid waste]

Late again...the story of my blogging life. But at least last week was packed with news!

Zymetis, a privately-held Maryland-based bioscience discovery company has initiated a development partnership with Genencor to explore novel methods for producing biochemicals directly from biomass feedstocks through use of the unique marine microorganism under development by Zymetis.

3M is expanding its manufacturing facility for its 3M Ultra Barrier Solar Film in Columbia, Missouri, to support growing demand for high efficiency flexible PV modules. The expansion is scheduled to be completed in 2011.

W. R. Grace & Co. will increase its silica gel production capacity at facilities in Kuantan, Malaysia and Sorocaba, Brazil, for use in biodiesel and renewable diesel. Silica gel is said to improve a refinery's economics by removing contaminants from natural oil feedstocks more efficiently than alternative products.

Solutia has opened a new Photovoltaic Laboratory Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, which is designed to spur breakthrough innovations, accelerate new product development timelines and provide expert technical service to the makers of solar modules.

Chemtura will open a new production line for its Naugalube 403 liquid antioxidant at its existing plant in Rio Claro, Brazil, by the end of 2010. The new facility will position Chemtura to be a leading supplier of liquid antioxidants to producers of biofuels in Brazil and Argentina.

Arkema has selected the Bioplastics Division of Teknor Apex Company as a preferred supplier of masterbatches incorporating the company's Biostrength® additives for polylactic acid (PLA) biopolymer.

The European Commission will discuss the possibility of reducing infants' exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) and the uncertainty about possible effects on health from the chemical that were expressed in a recent report by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA).

US chemical manufacturers warned that federal environmental plans to force reductions in emissions by industrial boilers and production furnaces could jeopardise some 60,000 chemical sector jobs and should be amended.

The US solar industry may add more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of capacity this year - more than double from the 441 megawatts (MW) added last year, according to the US Solar Energy Industries Association.

Europe's Reach legislation is increasing uncertainty among detergent producers, who do not know if their feedstock suppliers have successfully registered their chemicals.

DSM, in an interview with colleague Will Beacham, said that it will decide within 3-6 months if it will invest in a commercial scale biosuccinic acid plant. If that will be the case, the plant would most likely be located in the US, Brazil or China - places with advanced agricultural capabilities and good existing biorefinery infrastructure.

Here is a video interview of Volkert Claassen, DSM's vice president white biotechnology. An article (it's free!) about the interview also just came out today at ICIS Chemical Business.

My apologies for posting this interview so late...I really have to cut back on interviews lately because of my weekly column (not to mention several features stories) at ICIS Chemical Business.

Eastman launched its first sustainability review in June this year and the company is actually aiming for 2/3 of its revenue (at a minimum) from new product launches to have sustainability attributes within the next 3-5 years.

Sustainability, as everybody is well aware by now, has different meanings and criteria for each company. For Eastman, the company defines it as 'the ability in creating value to all three aspect of the triple bottom line: environmental responsibility and stewardship, social responsibility, company's economic growth.'

If you want to summarize, it's all about Planet, People, Profit.

Talking to Anne Kilgore, Eastman's director of Sustainability, she explains how sustainability is becoming a major growth driver for the company. Sales of their specialty copolyester plastic Tritan has been doing very well this year with the product being marketed as free of bisphenol-A (BPA).

"Our specialty plastics were an early adoption area for us from the sustainability movement because our downstream customers knew it, needed it and valued it," said Kilgore. "This area has a very active program like the Tritan launch. There's a lot of organic growth in this business sector."

Eastman continues to develop applications for Tritan as well as several additional Tritan branch of chemistry.

Demand for their non-phthalate plasticizers for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) applications has also been increasing. Kilgore said Eastman plan to increase its non-phthalate plasticizers portfolio through organic acquisitions starting with the recent buyout of Genovique Specialties.

"We see non-phthalate plasticizers as a big market need for our customers," said Kilgore. "We still supply ortho-phthalates but we have customers who are making choices away from this market and we want to be proactive in supplying them with alternatives."

Other products with sustainability attributes in the portfolio include renewable-based cellulose esters, hydrogenated rosin esters, and its cellulosic polymers made from wood pulp.

Kilgore said they are also focusing on implementing energy-efficient process technologies such as the company's PET process production, which now uses 47% less energy, and Eastman's biocatalytic process for novel ester production. The process uses enzymes and said to eliminate strong acids and high temperature that are usually required in producing esters.

Between 1998 and 2008, Eastman said it was able to reduced greenhouse gas emissions from their businesses by 25%, energy use down by 35% and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions by 34%. The company's environmental goals are to further improve energy efficiency by 2.5% and reduce GHG emissions by 2% year-over-year, and for the next 10 years, reduce energy use by 25%, GHG emissions by 20%, reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 20% and sulfur dioxide emissions by 40%, and to have all new product family launches accompanied with life cycle analysis (LCA) reports within the next few years.

Kilgore said a lot of their customers are already asking for LCA information as well as for carbon footprint reduction data. Customers are said to be looking for end-of-life solutions whether in plastics, chemicals or other end products. Tradeoffs, however, is not an option when it comes to performance and costs, she noted.

Eastman said they are also looking at the area of renewable resources, where the company already has a significant activities and products in its portfolio especially in cellulose-based technologies.

An interesting remark from this interview is Kilgore talking about Eastman's partnerships with the design community, and its importance in being ahead of the sustainability trend.

"The design community is kind of like an early warning signals for us," said Kilgore. "They know what the future will be. Our partnership with designers across the industry has been very successful for us. Our Innovation Lab hold a lot of design insights which helped us understand what the world needs in terms of how the chemical industry can help in solving problems."

Kilgore added that these partnerships helped them know where to specifically invest in products and process technologies to make them more sustainable.

The blog mentioned Avantium before in its coverage of the Biobased Chemicals East conference last month. The company announced today that it has started construction of its 20 tons/year pilot plant to produce furanics-based monomers and polymers starting in the first quarter of 2011.

The plant is located at the Chemelot site in Geleen, the Netherlands, where other industrial producers such as DSM and Sabic are also located. I also mentioned about Chemelot being talked about by DSM during the conference.

The furanics building blocks will be marketed under the brand name YXY (pronounced ~ixy). The pilot plant is partly funded by a EUR 1 million grant from the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture.

The Ministry had a total budget of EUR 10 million for pilot plant projects that will produce sustainable bio-based products and energy for the European market. Avantium plans to raise additional private funding to run the pilot plant and to further accelerate the commercialization of YXY.

The company said it expects to close a EUR 15 million round by the end of 2010.

Avantium is collaborating with industrial partners such as NatureWorks and Teijin Aramid to develop novel materials on basis of its YXY building blocks. Possible applications include water and soft drink bottles, carpets, textiles, high-performance fibers, coatings and plasticizers.

As mentioned by the blog before, Avantium plans to have a demonstration plant of around 1,000 ton/year in 2012 and an industrial plant with capacities between 10,000 and 100,000 tons/year is expected by late 2014.

Yogurt manufacturer Stonyfield Farms announced yesterday that it is now using NatureWorks' Ingeo polylactic acid (PLA) resin for its multi-pack yogurt cups under the brands YoBaby, YoToddler and YoKids as well as B-Healthy, B-Well, Probiotic & O'Soy.

The new cups replace petroleum-based polystyrene (PS#6) and will be stamped with "Made From Plants" on the bottom. The cup is 93% made from corn-based PLA compounded by Clear Lam Packaging in Illinois, where the Ingeo resin is mixed with colorings and other additives before being sent to Stonyfield Farms. The rest of the cup materials are composed of 4% colorant made with titanium dioxide (hmmmm, I wonder if there's a slight grumble with this tidbit of information from health advocates...) and 3% additives.

Stonyfield noted that the entire multipack, including the paper label and PET lidding, is 81% bio-based material.

"By comparison, Coca-Cola®'s "plant bottle" is 30% bio-based and The SunChips® bag is 90% bio-based," the company said.

An interesting information regarding this new product is that Stonyfield presented a lifecycle assessment study of the yogurt cups based on the use of polystyrene (PS) vs PLA. While Ingeo production uses 22% less total energy and 8% less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to PS production, PLA production still needs improvement in electricity use and wastewater emissions (during corn production).

Fertilizer use for corn was also considered in the study.

Toxicity impacts of Ingeo were many times lower compared to PS although noxious air emissions are said to be larger for PLA. Other areas of comparison still being studied include water use and environmental assessment of PLA and PS recycling, neither of which is currently practiced, according to the study. PLA, of course, has the upper hand when it comes to composting because of its degradability.

Still, Stonyfield does not recommend the cups to be composted as they are said to be too thick to be considered compostable under American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) international standards.

"The independent review of PLA's environmental impact found that composting is also not the best option for disposing of the cups because composting would release the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the plant-based plastic (CO2 absorbed by the corn when it was growing) back into the atmosphere where it would contribute to global warming." - Stonyfield Farms

So when it comes to end-of-life comparison, both PLA and PS are currently the same since the cups are not recommended for composting and there is no recycling system available for both materials for yogurt cups. Stonyfield, however, pointed out that the PLA cups can be converted back into lactic acid and then reformed into PLA packaging material, creating a continuous closed-loop system. That will be in the future when some companies can collect the cups for PLA recycling.

Back to the LCA study, both PS and PLA are said to have equal impacts when it comes to cup manufacturing, post-polymer transportation, and end of life via landfill.

Lastly, the company pointed out that they are working with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and their Working Landscapes Certificate (WLC) program where Stonyfield pays farmers who agree to grow the corn they need according to very strict sustainable production standards. The program also ensures the use of non-GMO corn.

Stonyfield said they cannot use organic corn as it would add more than 30% to the price of the plastic cup, which they can't pass on to consumers.

 Here are September's new green chemicals list. Solar technologies rule on this one!

1. Momentive surfactant for green polyol - Momentive Performance Materials in collaboration with Cargill has developed its Niax silicone L-670 surfactant that allows for the increased use of natural oil-based polyols in foam production. The surfactant also reduces the amount of flame retardant additive required to pass flammability tests.

2. Honeywell solar materials - Honeywell introduced a new line of electronic materials that include dielectrics and dopants designed to enable manufacturers of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells to boost their power output through use of advanced, high-efficiency cell designs.

3. Clariant water-saving dye - Clariant unveiled Pad/Sizing-Ox, an eco-efficient dyeing procedure for denims that that delivers up to 92% reduction in water consumption. Pad/Sizing Ox allows 30% energy savings together with 63% waste cotton savings compared to conventional dyeing procedures.

4. Biofoam from ITW Futura Coatings - ITW Futura Coatings introduced the first window foam, Foamseal® E-Z Fill™ Plus, containing renewable agricultural materials based on corn, soy and castor. The new foam has received BioPreferred status from the U. S. Department of Agriculture (UDSA).

5. Arkema solar technologies - Arkema has developed with the company Krempel a new PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) three-layer film (PET core layer enclosed within Kynar® PVDF outer layers) for use as protective backsheet for solar panels. Arkema also developed Apolhya® Solar, a nanostructured thermoplastic polymer for the encapsulation of new generation photovoltaic modules.

6. Verenium enzyme for ethanol - Verenium now sells DELTAZYM® GA L-E5 enzyme for the saccharification of liquefied starch in the fuel ethanol production process. The enzyme demonstrates high ethanol yields at industrial scale using multiple substrates including corn, milo, barley, wheat and cassava.

7. BP solar technology - BP has launched its KAUST system, which consists of 60 solar photovoltaic modules, half of which include BP Solar's new 120 half-cell modules with Thermo-Cool technology. The Thermo-Cool backsheet layer allows for faster heat dissipation resulting in a cooler operating environment and thus higher power output.

 8. Bayer solar technology - Bayer MaterialScience and puren GmbH developed the Bomatherm® solar air collector roof insulation system. In this system the energy obtained from solar radiation is combined with highly efficient thermal insulation.

I have not bought any of the Sun Chips with compostable bags yet but if Frito Lay is withdrawing them from the market, then these bags must be very noisy indeed.

According to this article from the USA Today, Frito Lay is returning five of six SunChips flavors on its original packaging after complaints of the compostable bags' noisiness spread like a virus all across media outlets.

Here's a YouTube video comparing the noise level of the SunChips bags over other chip bags. SunChips sales are said to have declined more than 11% over the past 52 weeks (excluding Wal-Mart, which doesn't share its data), according to market research group SymphonyIRI.

As reported by the Green Blog before, the compostable bag uses NatureWorks' polylactic acid plastic Ingeo in the packaging's outer print web film and inner barrier web film. The adhesive layer gluing the two films together is also made with other eco-friendly material.

The bag fully decomposes within 14 weeks. Frito Lay said the compostable bag will still be used in the Original flavor SunChips. The company said it is still working on next-generation biodegradable bags.

As everyone knows by now, it ain't easy being green!

Currently transcribing interviews from Eastman, Novozymes and Cereplast, and in the line-up are P&G's global VP of sustainability Len Sauers and Henkel's Thomas Muller-Kirschbaum, senior vice president for Research & Development, Technology and Supply Chain at Henkel's laundry and home care business.

Also coming soon is a video interview of DSM's bio-succinic acid project from my colleague Will Beacham, author of Look East for Chemicals blog, and deputy editor of ICIS Chemical Business. 

Good stuff coming in so stay tune! For now here are this week's news roundup:

Polenghi LAS has developed Europe's first extrusion-blow-molded biobased bottle using NatureWork's Ingeo blend formulation. Polenghi Bio, organic lemon juice packed in the Eco bottle, is now available in Italy and will soon be stocked in stores throughout Europe
. The Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC (TAME) will supply Continental Carbonic Products' new dry ice manufacturing facility in Greenville, Ohio, with carbon dioxide (CO2) coming from TAME's nearby ethanol plant. Liquefied carbon dioxide (LCO2) is the feed-stock for manufacturing dry ice.

Air Liquide will participate in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) development of FutureGen 2.0 -- the world's first full scale oxy-combustion power plant incorporating permanent CO2 capture and storage (CCS). The project began its first phase on October 1, 2010, which includes engineering studies and economic analysis to re-power Ameren Energy Resources' Meredosia, Illinois, 200 MW power plant using clean-coal technology.

Danisco launch XIVIA™ - its new brand name for sustainable xylitol, based on the Life Cycle Assessment results of its wood based integration concept. This concept is said to produce as little as 1% to 16% of the environmental impact associated with the competitive biomass hydrolysis process based production method using corn cobs as raw material (BHP).

GE will develop advanced water reuse technologies with Miahona, a subsidiary of the Arabian Company for Water and Power Development Ltd., in the areas of chemicals, equipment and advanced membranes. The water reuse market in Saudi Arabia is expected to be worth $3.4 billion between 2009 and 2016, making it the third largest water reuse market in the world.

15 more personal care products from Cognis have been evaluated and certified by the Natural Products Association (NPA) bringing the total number of NPA-approved Cognis products to 81. Recently approved products include Cetiol C5 (a fast spreading emollient that replaces silicones in skin, hair and body formulations), Gluadin Soy Benz (a hydrolyzed soy protein), Cegesoft SB Organic shea butter, Lipofructyl PI LS 9324 (a caring oil from the French Mirabelle plum), and Vit-A-Like PW LS 9898 (an active that increases cellular turnover and boosts collagen synthesis).

The European Commission will discuss the possibility of reducing infants' exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) and the uncertainty about possible effects on health from the chemical that were expressed in a recent report by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA).

A new programme in New York state is aimed at replacing conventional dry-cleaning chemicals such as perchloroethylene (perc) and other chemicals with water.

Neste Oil and Stora Enso - a paper, packaging and forest products firm - are jointly launching environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for a new renewable diesel plant at two locations in Finland.

Just came back from the World Detergents Conference in Switzerland and the only word that stood out during the entire event was "sustainability". A colleague from another magazine and I were actually thinking of taking a shot every time sustainability was mentioned but then we would be too drunk before the first morning break starts. =)

I will try to post a recap of the event but here's a short blog post from a surfactant/oleochemical expert Neil Burns of Neil Burns and Associates to give a glimpse of what happened during the detergent sustainability fest.

For now, back to this news from BASF about its capacity expansion for bioplastic product Ecoflex from 14,000 tonnes/year to 60,000 tonnes in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The expanded capacity is expected to come onstream at the end of 2010.

Ecoflex is a petroleum-based (aliphatically aromatic copolyester) biodegradable plastic that exhibits same properties as that of low density polyethylene (LDPE). Ecoflex combined with corn-based polylactic acid (PLA) is also used in BASF's Ecovio plastic, which can replace high density polyethylene (HDPE) in certain applications.

BASF said the expansion is necessary to meet increasing demand. With the integration of Ciba's plastic portfolio to BASF's business, the company terminated Ciba's Envirocare for oxo-biodegradable plastics effective July 1, 2010. Envirocare was used to manufacture polyethylene mulch films for agricultural use.

BASF said it has supplied biodegradable plastics for the manufacture of mulch films and other applications for many years in the form of Ecoflex and Ecovio.

I actually just finished a bioplastic article for the October 25 issue of ICIS Chemical Business. Watch out for that and another article about bio-based consumer packaging coming out for November 15.

[Photo credit: BASF]

The green blogger is in Montreux, Switzerland, this week covering the World Detergents Conference, which is held every four years. In honor of the occasion, feel free (and it's free!) to read my green surfactants article published this week at ICIS Chemical Business.

The detergent conference will see keynote presentations from CEOs of major detergent producers Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Henkel. If there's wifi available, I will tweet bits and pieces of information via @ICISChemicalbiz. Stay tune! For now, here are this week's news roundup:

Braskem starts green PE plant
Braskem inaugurated its 200,000 tonnes/year sugar-based polyethylene plant in Triunfo Petrochemical Complex. The company's green PE customers include Tetra Pak, Toyota Tsusho, Shiseido, Natura, Acinplas, Johnson&Johnson, Procter&Gamble and Petropack.

Gas supply for Malaysia PV
Air Products signed a contract with a leading global photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer in Malaysia for the company's SunSource™ Solutions gases, equipment and services. The turnkey gas supply contract includes bulk and specialty gases, specialty chemicals, and related gas distribution equipment to support the customer's new crystalline PV facility in Melaka, Malaysia.

BASF in Algae
BASF SE and Solix Biofuels have signed an agreement to investigate the use of algae to produce certain chemicals for BASF. Solix is a leading developer of algae cultivation technology systems and will test multiple algae species in its proprietary growth system, AGS™, for BASF.

Surfactant for BiOH polyols
Momentive Performance Materials has collaborated with Cargill on the use of its Niax* silicone L-670 surfactant, which allows for the increased use of natural oil-based polyols (NOPs) in foam production by up to 30%.

Ethanol acquisition
Green Plains Renewable Energy will acquire Global Ethanol LLC in a $169.2 million deal. Green Plains will acquire Global's two ethanol plants, in Lakota, Iowa, and Riga, Mich., which will boost its annual ethanol-producing capacity by 31 percent to about 657 million gallons.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
Procter & Gamble (P&G) plans to eliminate the remaining polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from its product packaging in the next few years. P&G also aims to replace 25% of its petrochemical-based feedstock with renewable-based chemicals by 2020.

US chemical sector and other manufacturing leaders said they will try again later this year to convince Congress to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from imposing greenhouse gas restrictions that they fear will bring US industrial development to a halt.

ExxonMobil will spend more than $150m (€111m) to dispose of hazardous waste at its former site in Pasadena, Texas, as part of a settlement with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).