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NOVA Chemicals and Enerkem collaborate on plastics recycling
T
wo Canadian companies are to collaborate on innovative technology to close the loop on
recycling and drive a plastics circular economy. NOVA Chemicals Corporation, a leading producer of chemicals and plastic resins, and Enerkem Inc, a leading waste-to- renewable fuels and chemicals producer, have entered into a joint development agreement to explore turning non-recyclable and non-compostable municipal waste into ethylene, a basic building block for plastics. The companies will research advanced recycling technology to transform hard-to-recycle municipal waste, including items such as plastics, household waste, and construction materials, into ethylene at full
indistinguishable from those made from 100 percent virgin, fossil- based feedstocks.
Canadian companies NOVA Chemicals and Enerkem Inc have formed a joint development agreement to explore turning non- recyclable and non-compostable municipal waste into ethylene, a basic building block for plastics
commercial scale. The companies say ethylene produced from waste would advance a plastics circular economy and help meet consumer brand goals for recycled content in packaging.
Advanced recycling technologies
are a necessary component of moving to zero plastic waste by creating valuable new feedstocks from post-use plastics that cannot be easily mechanically recycled and the quality of polymers produced with advanced recycling products is
Enerkem is the first company in the world to produce renewable methanol and ethanol from non-recyclable, non-compostable municipal solid waste at full commercial scale. Its current technologies replace the use of fossil sources like petroleum and natural gas to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals that are used in a broad range of everyday products. NOVA Chemicals is committed
to enabling 100 per cent of plastics packaging is recyclable or recoverable by 2030; and 100 per cent of plastics packaging is re-used, recycled or recovered by 2040.
Bionema secures Innovate UK grant to complete
development of microencapsulation technology Bionema Ltd, a leading UK-based biotechnology company, has received a grant from Innovate UK to support the company’s continued development of its bioinsecticide microencapsulation formulation, which, the company says, delivers an effective alternative to chemical pesticides. This additional £98,000 Continuity Grant complements an initial £1.0 million in funding support from Innovate UK, the national funding agency that invests in science and research in the UK, and from the Welsh Government’s SMART Cymru. Dr Minshad Ansari, a world- leading biopesticideexpert who leads Bionema’s research team, commented: “The funding is helping the company to continue the development of its microencapsulation formulation and deliverysystems, which is crucial to the developmentof effective biopesticide products,” adding that
effective control of pests, such as western flower thrips, aphids, whitefly and spider mites, requires a robust formulation for targeted delivery. Currently, these pests are controlled by conventional chemical insecticides but some of them have now developed product resistance, while other products have been removed from the market, due to their harmful impact on the environment and human health. Ansari says that biopesticide formulation and its targeted delivery is a more stable and sustainable approach for controlling these pests which are causing billions of dollars of crop damage on a world-wide scale.
The Continuity Grant-funded project aims to develop a unique manufacturing process of proven microencapsulation formulation technology for next-generation bioinsecticide control. New microencapsulated products will
Summer 2020
be registered and distributed across Europe, the US and Canada. Currently, trials are in place with several multi-national chemical companies and distributors to commercialize the technology. The project team includes
formulation experts from the School of Chemical Engineering at the
Industry News
Dr Minshad Ansari of Bionema: developing new microencapsulation formulation and delivery systems as the basis of increasingly effective biopesticide products.
University of Birmingham and at Bionema. In addition to Bionema’s research, development and commercial teams, Silsoe Spray Application Unit is also testing the product’s large-scale applicability and Applied Insect Science, a regulatory service, is managing the registration of the product.
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