Foreword

Where biobased products are concerned, the most-touted advantage is that they are renewable: being made from plant biomass that can be regrown. To a lesser degree, they also serve as a mitigator of carbon emissions, serving as a net carbon sink. However, biobased products can offer properties that their fossil-based counterparts cannot, and this is often not talked about as often as their environmental benefits. However, there is a report this month that explains just how significant these additional properties could be. Biomass is more chemically variable than fossil fuels, which duly presents a greater array of processing options for biobased chemicals. When these biobased monomers are polymerised, it results in a greater array of functional groups being spread along the polymer chain, which, according to this research, greatly increases the post-polymerisation modification prospects of biobased polymers. This potentially has a great impact on the diversity of properties achievable in biobased polymers, and can allow for........

Other News this Month Includes:

Policy

• New EU directive to curb marine plastic waste
• Developing an Industrial Biotechnology strategy for the UK
• Report into single-use plastic sustainability​

Markets

• Increased demand prompts Lenzing to up capacity
• Amyris expands partnership with ADL
• Leaf Resources chosen for scale-up by Unreasonable Impact​

Research & Development

• Cellulose nanofibre materials could outperform metal alloys in physical properties
• Biobased polymers allow for more varied post-polymerisation modification
• Kraig improves spider silk products
• Paper discusses biorefinery LCA methods
• Finnish lab develops new cellulose fibre process
• Partnership pursues plastic-free food packaging​

Polymers

• Neste to produce biobased plastics for IKEA
• Kraig begins spider silk production for US army
• Biobased resins to be used in food packaging
• New standard and certification for biodegradable mulch films
• New Vibers bioplastic from potato waste and miscanthus
• Biobased multilayer transparent films
• KRAIBUR to produce custom biobased TPEs
• Lenzing to produce viscose fibres in China​

Consumer Products

• Hasbro toys to come in biobased packaging
• Biobased plastic mailing bags spread in the UK
• Neutrox to use Braskem's biobased plastic for packaging
• Chocomel to have almost entirely biobased packaging​

Patents

Events

Price Information