BIOPLASTICS | MATERIALS
UPM buys SunCoal UPM Biochemicals has acquired SunCoal Industries of Germany, which has developed a technology portfolio to make performance products from renewable raw materials. SunCoal’s technology will now be integrated into the production of UPM’s BioMo- tion renewable functional fillers – one of the products made at UPM’s biorefinery in Leuna. “This will strengthen our position in
renewable chemicals and marks a next step in the growth of our biorefining businesses,” said Winfried Schaur, executive vice president for technology and biorefining at UPM. “Scaling our biorefinery businesses is one of the key transforma- tive steps for UPM.” Founded in 2007, SunCoal has pilot and lab facilities and employs 30 people. Its hydrothermal treatment technology has been licenced to UPM for the production of wood-based functional fillers.
AI materials A number of research projects are also trying to push the boundaries of biomaterials forward. For instance, US scientists have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can help to identify bioplas- tics with better functionality. PolyID (Polymer Inverse Design), developed at
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), uses AI to predict material properties based on molecular structure. This allows it to screen millions of possible polymer designs to create a shortlist of candidates for a given application. The algorithm behind PolyID is underpins an
approach known as ‘group-contribution theory’. The tool builds associations between arrange-
ments of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and other elements – as well as material properties – to predict attributes such as elasticity, heat tolerance and sealant performance. In this way, it ‘learns’ to predict how new polymers might be designed to achieve specific physical characteristics. “If you do that with a few thousand polymers to train the algorithm, you start to get really
accurate predictions for structures that haven’t been seen before by the algorithm – and maybe haven’t been made before,” said Nolan Wilson, lead author of a paper in Macromol- ecules, which explains the development by NREL. The scientists used PolyID to screen more than 15,000 plant-based polymers in search of biode- gradable alternatives to conventional food packag- ing film. Primarily made from high-density polyeth- ylene—a petroleum-based material—packaging films are often designed to withstand high tem- peratures and create a strong vapor seal to keep the food fresh. The team prioritised properties such as tem-
perature resistance and the ability to create a strong vapour seal – and added other attributes including biodegradability and a lower green- house gas footprint. The tool generated a list of seven polymer designs that could be made from biomass. After lab testing, the team confirmed the tool’s predictions: all seven polymers would withstand high temperatures, lower net green- house gas emissions and keep food fresh for longer.
“Some of these might serve as direct replace- ments for comparable petroleum polymers – but in many cases they are even better in terms of performance and sustainability,” said Wilson.
Right: NREL’s PolyID uses machine learning to identify bioplastics with better functionality
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