Issue 05/2015

News
Important milestones for PHA
Bologna, Italy-based Bio-on recently singed a number
of important contracts to further develop the technology
to produce PHAs. PHA, or polyhydroxyalkanoates, are
bioplastics that can replace a number of traditional
polymers currently made with petrochemical processes
using hydrocarbons. The PHAs developed by Bio-on
guarantee the same thermo-mechanical properties as
oil-based polymers with the advantage of being completely
naturally biodegradable.
PHA from sugar beet (France)
Bio-on and Cristal Union, a French cooperative sugar
producer signed an agreement end of July under which
France‘s first facility for the production of PHAs bioplastic
from sugar beet co-products will be built. The two
companies will work together to build a production site
with a 5,000 tonnes/year output to be subsequently be
expanded to 10,000 tonnes/year.
Requiring a 70 million Euro investment, the facility
will be located at a Cristal Union site and will be the
most advanced biopolymers production site in the world.
The new factory will create 50 new jobs specialized in
fermentation to produce this revolutionary bioplastic.
“We are investing in purchasing the license for this new
technology developed by Bio-on,” says Cristal Union CEO
Alain Commisaire, “because this all-natural bioplastic
is an extraordinary tool that can contribute towards the
growth of the French sugar industry, but with a modern,
eco-compatible and eco-sustainable approach”.
PHA from lignocellulose (Hawai‘i)
In early September an exclusive global research contract
between Bio-on and University of Hawai’i was signed to
further develop the technology to produce PHAs from
lignocellulosic materials derived from wood processing
waste and domestic or agricultural waste.
Bio-on will invest 1.4 million US-Dollars in the Manoa
(HI) laboratories for this project. The Hawai‘i Natural
Energy Institute, a research unit of the School of Ocean
and Earth Science & Technology (SOEST) at University of
Hawai’i at Manoa, will take the lead on the research. The
aim is to create an industrial process in which a wider
selection of waste products can serve as the feedstock for
the production of PHAs.
UH is “pleased to accept Bio-on‘s investment”
according to Robert Bley-Vroman, Chancellor of the
University of Hawai’i Manoa USA. The investment will
“make our scientists key players in the research into the
green chemical industry at global level,” he said. Bioon
Chairman Marco Astorri noted that the newly signed
contract makes the research conducted in the USA on
behalf of Bio-on one of the highest-level collaborations
in existence. “We are committing our funding and our
technicians to support UH scientists in the technological
expansion of the high performing biopolymers produced
with Bio-on technology,” he declared.
PHA from sugar cane (Brazil)
The Brazilian investment company Moore Capital
signed a license agreement with Bio-on in mid September
to build the first Brazil-based facility to produce PHAs
bioplastic from sugar cane co-products.
Requiring an 80 million Euro investment, the new facility
will have an annual production capacity of around 10,000
tonnes of PHA, and be located in either São Paulo or Acre
State. According to the two companies, the new plant will
become the most advanced biopolymers production site in
South America.
“We will create Brazil‘s first PHAs production facility
with a company attentive to ecology and sustainability -
two key ingredients of the chemical industry of the future,”
explained Marco Astorri. The PHA produced at the new
facility will be based on agricultural waste, such as from
sugar cane.
“We have decided to use Bio-on technology,” says Otávio
Pacheco, Management Partner of Moore Capital, “because
it represents an exceptional opportunity for industrial
development in Brazil. This is why we have decided to
invest 5.5 million Euro in acquiring the production license
and another 80 million in constructing the first facility”.
Moore Capital also has an option to build a second plant
in Brazil.
The new production hub will create 60 new jobs, plus
allied industries. Its backers say that it will help to meet
the high demand for this revolutionary biopolymer already
coming in from numerous plastics processors in Brazil.
Bio-on has said that going forward, the company would
also be looking at how to further develop the business of
the high-performing biopolymers produced in Brazil with
Bio-on technology in South America. MT
www.bio-on.it · www. www.cristal-union.fr
www.manoa.hawaii.edu/miro · www.moorecapital.com.br
bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/15] Vol. 10 7