FOREST-BASED BIOPRODUCTS INDUSTRY NEWS


Wood-to-PHA project in Hawaii


‘Pine-derived chemicals market’


A report (ID: 3330388) fore- casting global trends to 2020 in the pine-derived chemicals market has been published in Ireland by Research and Markets. This research report categorises the current state of the market as follows:


Based on source, the market has been segmented into living trees, dead pine stumps and logs, and by-products of sulfate pulping.


producing bioplastic PHAs has been agreed in Hawaii by Bio-on and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The objective is to use wood processing waste as the raw material.


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Bio-on and University of Hawaii will create an industrial process that will enable Bio-on to further increase its technological offer, which has a unique selling point in the sector: the wide variety of waste products from which its high performing PHAs can be made. Wood is therefore added to the sugar beet and sugar cane, glycerol (biodiesel waste) and potato processing waste co-products already used. The industrial plants, part of the licenses granted by Bio- on, will have the capability of using all of these materials, with limited adjustments, making them highly flexible.


PHAs, 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.


“We are enthusiastic to participate in the development of Bio-on’s technology,” confirmed


14 Autumn 2015 14


n exclusive global research project to further develop the technology for


Robert Bley-Vroman (left) and Marco Astorri in Hawaii.


Robert Bley-Vroman, Chancellor of the University of Hawaii. “We are also pleased to accept Bio-on’s investment of $1.4 million, which will make our scientists at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute School of Ocean and Earth Science & Technology University of Hawaii at Manoa key players in the research into the green chemical industry at a global level. “With this new contract, we are confirming a collaboration between Bio-on and UH active since 2008, which makes the research conducted in the USA on behalf of Bio-on one of the highest-level collaborations in existence,” explained Marco Astorri, Chairman of Bio-on SpA. “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.”


The agreement between Bio-on and University of Hawaii adds an important building block to the construction of the platform for bioplastic production and the green chemical industry of the future. This agreement heralds the opening up of highly promising scenarios for the development and internationalisation of Bio-on’s technology in new markets. More information from www.bio-on.it


Based on type, it has been segmented into-tall oil fatty acids (TOFA), tall oil rosin (TOR), gum turpentine, gum rosin, sterols and pitch.


Based on application, the segments are adhesives &


sealants, paints & coatings, surfactants, printing inks and others (food additives, cosmetics additives and seed coatings). More information from www.researchandmarkets. com


Major award for biofuel technology


On 7 September, Andrew Jones, the UK’s Transport Minister, announced that Nova Pangaea Technologies (NPT) is to receive grant backing of £3 million from the Advanced Biofuels Demonstration Competition (ABCD) launched by the Department for Transport (DfT) at the end of 2014. This will be to fund the demonstration of NPT’s low- cost route to convert forestry waste to cellulosic sugars and on to ethanol for biofuel at significant scale. The process is unique in being continuous and, importantly, it can be scaled up to oil industry volumes. The technology is currently being developed through alliances with a number of very well-respected academic and technical institutes in the UK and across the EU.


In due course, it should provide a sustainable source for liquid transportation fuels and indeed chemicals, using a wide


variety of biomass feedstocks and carries the prospect of replacing fossil fuels for these purposes.


Barry Hedley, Chairman of NPT, said: “We are enormously proud to have been one of the three winners awarded the DfT grant. It is a valuable boost and will assist us as we continue to develop the Refnova™ process. It is our expectation that this UK biofuel technology will be licensed to biomass owners and processors across the globe”. Ed Wilson, CEO, added that to have won an ABDC grant was a significant achievement for NPT. “It will help us to further expand our partnerships and routes to commercialisation. We already have a number of significant relationships with multi-billion dollar industrial collaborators from upstream, process and downstream sectors, including chemical and fuel companies.” More information from www.novapangaea.com


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