NEWS
Bio-based polymer capacity to grow 8% a year to 2025
Production capacity for bio-based polymers will grow by CAGR 8% to 2025, according to the latest sector study from Germany’s Nova Institute (Bio-based Building Blocks & Polymers – Global Capacities, Production & Trends, 2020–2025). Total global production of biobased polymers amounted to 4.2m tonnes in 2020, equivalent to 1% of global polymer production, according to Nova data. It estimated total biopoly- mer production capacity at around 4.6m tonnes. The main biomass feedstock used for biobased polymer manufacturing is glycerol as a biogenic by-product, it said. The study author’s described 2020
as a “promising year” for the bio-based polymer sector. PLA capacity was sold out in 2019, leading to commitment to new capacity, and there was also
Bio-based polymers: Evolution of worldwide production capacities 2018 to 2025
significant investment in PE and PP produced from bio-based naphtha. Future expansion for bio-based PA, PBAT, PHA and casein polymers “is on the horizon”, they said, though growth in bio-based PET has slowed. “Several global brands are already
expanding their feedstock portfolio to include, next to fossil-based, sources of
Architect’s impression of the new Lifocolor plant at Lichtenfels
renewable carbon, CO2
, recycling and
especially biomass, increasing the demand for bio-based as well as biodegradable polymers,” Nova said. The major constraint is “a lack of support from politics, which still only promotes biofuels and bioenergy”. �
www.renewable-carbon.eu/ publications
Waste-to- CNT idea wins funds
Lifocolor expansion on track
German masterbatch producer Lifocolor says it remains on track to move in to its new production building at Lichtenfels this summer. The 14,000m2
facility will
expand the company’s production capacity by
14
5,000tpa and is the final element in a 10-year investment programme that has seen it expand locations in the Czech Republic, France and Poland, as well as completely updating its second German plant at Straufhain.
COMPOUNDING WORLD | February 2021 Lifocolor Group CEO Dr
Martin Fabian said the new facility, which will be 30% powered by its own photovoltaic installation, will “set new standards in the production of master- batches.” �
www.lifocolor.com
Researchers at Swansea University in Wales have secured £270,000 from the Welsh government to fund a project to create carbon nanotubes from waste plastics and apply them in non-metallic conductive cables. The team at the univer-
sity’s Energy Safety Research Institute will use the funding to test the electrical and physical properties of the CNT wires and to advance required closed-loop chemical recycling processes. �
www.swansea.ac.uk
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: LIFOCOLOR GROUP
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