Issue 05/2023

News
daily updated News at
www.bioplasticsmagazine.com
A new era of
renewable carbon
materials
Conagen (Bedford, MA USA), and Sumitomo
Chemical (Tokyo, Japan) have announced to jointly
develop p-hydroxystyrene (HS) and its polymer, poly
p-hydroxystyrene (PHS), using a combination of
biosynthesis, chemosynthesis, and polymerization.
The monomer and the polymer are made of
100 % renewable carbon, marking a new era of
sustainable production.
Developing PHS using a combination of biosynthesis,
chemosynthesis, and polymerization represents a
significant breakthrough in the field of sustainable material
production. Efforts to reduce reliance on petroleum and
transition towards renewable and sustainable alternatives
have gained momentum in recent years.
With renewable biomass as the starting material, this
joint development between Conagen and Sumitomo
Chemical creates an environmentally friendly and
cost-effective product.
This partnership represents a significant milestone in the
development of sustainable materials, and this approach
to PHS production is expected to reduce the carbon
footprint associated with traditional chemical synthesis
methods. It is a crucial step towards more sustainable
manufacturing processes with a positive impact.
The Conagen-Sumitomo partnership leverages
Conagen’s expertise in microbial strain design and
development with Sumitomo Chemical’s proficiency
in chemical production and commercialization.
The collaboration aims to create a platform that enables
the production of sustainable chemicals to replace
petrochemicals in an extended range of many applications.
PHS is used to produce polymers, resins, and other
chemicals. The monomer HS can also be used as an
input for the synthesis of other chemicals, such as
pharmaceuticals and fragrances. The applications of HS
and PHS are limitless and can span uses from electronics
to personal care and other consumer products.
The monomer HS, with the chemical formula C 8
H 8
O, is
a derivative of styrene in which a hydroxyl group (-OH) is
attached to the aromatic ring’s para position (carbon atom
4). The HS and PHS are examples of green chemistry for
minimizing waste, reducing hazardous chemicals, and
using catalysts that can be easily separated and reused.
This joint development project promises to potentially
pave the way for developing novel renewable and
sustainable materials. “Similar technology can be used to
produce other key chemical ingredients by fermentation
at industrial scale, such as cinnamic acid, monohydroxybenzoic
acid, and dihydroxy-benzoic acid”, said J.
McNamara, V.P. of chemical applications at Conagen. AT
www.conagen.com | www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp
From CO 2
to
polyolefins
Braskem (São Paulo, Brazil) and the University of São
Paulo (USP) have announced a partnership to develop lines
of research for converting CO 2
into chemical products such
as olefins and alcohols, thus mitigating its emissions into
the environment and using it as a raw material for the
production of polyolefins.
The partnership with USP, through the Research Center
for Greenhouse Gas Innovation (RCGI), which also includes
the participation of the Federal University of São Carlos
(UFSCar), focuses on studying innovative routes for CO 2
conversion through both catalytic and electrocatalytic
processes. While in conventional processes in the chemical
industry, catalysts (materials that trigger chemical
reactions) are thermally activated, electrocatalysis uses
electricity to activate them. As such, renewable energy can
be used partially or fully for CO 2
conversion. AT
www.braskem.com | www5.usp.br
Chemical recycling
from old plastic to new
adhesives
A recently launched research project by the Fraunhofer
Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced
Materials IFAM in Bremen (Germany) and the German
Plastics Center SKZ in Würzburg aims to add thermally
damaged plastics to the recycling economy through
chemical recycling. The material of choice is PET, which
is already well-established in mechanical recycling.
Thanks to the well-known bottles and the deposit system
in Germany, the material is mostly sorted by type and most
of it is already efficiently recycled. The RezyBond project is
dedicated to PET fractions that have been recycled several
times and are too old, or that do not end up in this (bottle)
cycle at all, such as other PET packaging.
The process is unique in that the chemical recycling is
performed on a standard twin-screw extruder. "Our goal
is to develop a continuous, reactive recycling process for
PET recyclates into polyester polyols. These can then be
used as chemical feedstock", explains Hatice Malatyali,
Group Manager Extrusion and Compounding at SKZ.
The polyols obtained can be used as raw materials for
a wide range of technological applications, such as
adhesives and coatings. In the project, they will be used
as starting materials for adhesive formulations and thus
transferred directly to an application. A demonstration
plant is also planned at the SKZ to make the process
accessible to interested medium-sized companies. AT
www.skz.de | www.ifam.fraunhofer.de
6 bioplastics MAGAZINE | Renewable Carbon Plastics [05/23] Vol. 18