Green Practices

Launched on January 25 as a spin-off from Scotland-based Edinburgh Napier University's Biofuels Research Centre, Celtic Renewables Ltd. is a new company formed to commercialize a process for producing a next generation biofuel (and other high value sustainable products) from the by-products of biological industries. The initial focus is on the waste products derived from whisky production.

It seems as though not a week goes by without some plastic raw materials manufacturer announcing a collaboration with a producer of biobased materials. It's an interesting trend, and one that serves to underline the increasingly important role of bioplastics in the marketplace today as a sector that everyone wants to be part of.

The initial application for the industry's first cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) elastomer is expected to debut soon in an extruded medical application.

The newly developed material targets plastics such as nylon and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in medical applications including tubing and bags. The benefits of the COC elastomer for film are toughness, purity and moisture barrier.

Gas barrier properties are the Achilles heel when it comes to using biopolymers in (fresh) food packaging. Around the world, scientists and industry are working - often together - to develop feasible alternatives based on renewable resources to replace the use of conventional petroleum-based plastics.

Microbes are highly creative, hardy little adapters when it comes to survival. Mutation, natural selection and genetic variation are all means which they cleverly employ to evolve and adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Toray Industries, Inc. (Tokyo) concluded a technical partnership agreement with Gordon Murray Design Limited (GMD; Shalford, U.K.) on the side-lines of the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show 2011 aimed at promoting GMD's iStream hybrid production process in vehicle manufacture and other industrial sectors.

DSM Functional Materials is teaming up with Empresa Brasileira de Biotechnologia (Ebrabiotech) to work on bio-based materials. The Brazilian firm and Elgin, IL-based division of Royal DSM have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop materials for the concrete floor coatings market based on castor oil.

Specialty chemical company Rhodia, a member of the Solvay Group, and Dutch research and technology company Avantium announced today that they have entered into a partnership to jointly develop a range of new biobased polyamides.

This partnership expands and completes the previously announced development agreement in the field of bio-based engineering plastics between Solvay and Avantium.

The market for solar installations based on copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film panels will nearly double in size to $2.35 billion in 2015, as manufacturers signaled a breakout year in 2011 by taking advantage of falling production costs, improving module conversion efficiencies and increasing adoption in commercial rooftops. This according to a Lux Research (Boston, MA) report titled Sorting through the Maze of CIGS Technologies: Who Will Cash in on the Breakout Year?.

Genomatica, a San Diego based producer of green chemicals has entered into a joint venture with leading bioplastics producer Novamont for the first industrial plant in Europe producing butanediol (BDO) directly from renewable feedstocks. Novamont plans to use the biobased BDO for the synthesis of its biodegradable polyester Origo-Bi instead of the BDO currently in use that is derived from fossil fuels.