GreenBiz.com - A New Life for Plastics: End-of-life Solutions in the Age of Greener Materials

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A New Life for Plastics: End-of-life Solutions in the Age of Greener Materials



October 5, 2010, 8:30 AM PDT / 11:30 AM EDT


Plastics in the waste stream have long been a concern, and companies have been finding new ways to address this challenge. After all, why must a polymer that has the potential to last thousands of years in the environment be used in single-use packaging applications? Many companies are now turning to biopolymers instead of traditional petrochemical-based plastics to address waste management challenges and create localized energy.

Biobased plastics can degrade in two ways: in oxygen-laden environments, and in environments that lack oxygen. Certain biopolymers have been shown to have characteristics that allow them to degrade in an industrial composting setting.


This free, one-hour webcast will shine a light on how global biotechnology and chemical firms are driving innovation to help find a solution to plastics in the waste stream. Join us as we explore recent trends in the plastics industry, including:


* Use and inclusion of biopolymers


* Innovative technologies linking plastics to energy generation


* End-of-life considerations from the design phase


* Standards development




You will learn:


* the benefits of using biopolymers over traditional plastics


* the differences among commonly-used biopolymers and their end-of-life solutions


* challenges faced by the plastic manufacturing, waste management and packaging industries


* how degradation of biopolymers can help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels




Join Joel Makower, Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com, in conversation with Robert Whitehouse, Director of Applications Development for Metabolix, Inc., a leading bioplastics company; Kelly Lehrmann, consultant with the German bioplastics firm FKuR; and William Hoffman, environmental scientist in green chemistry at UL Environment.






Panelists include:




Robert Whitehouse, Director of Applications Development for Metabolix, Inc.


Dr. Robert S. Whitehouse has been involved with the plastics industry for over 40 years with a number of organizations. He obtained his PhD in Polymer Chemistry – Heterogeneity in Adhesive Films at Wolverhampton University and has authored many publications, book chapters and over 50 patents in the polymer, surface chemistry and recycling fields. In 1999 Bob became involved with Metabolix Inc in the development of polyhydroxyalkanoate polymers for a range of applications. At this time he became involved in understanding the role of microbial organisms in controlling the biodegradation of plastics materials as an end of life scenario. He has taken an active role in ASTM D20-96 committee in the development of new biodegradable test specifications include ASTM D6400 and D7081 and more recently in new applications such as ambient soil degradation, Home Composting and anaerobic degradation.




Kelly Lehrmann, consultant with the German bioplastics firm FKuR


Kelly became interested in the biodegradable industry after working as a consultant for a landfill corporation and realizing the potential value of the industry. She attended UW-Eau Claire and Mankato State University to obtain a B.S. in Finance. Kelly has 21 years of sales, marketing and management experience with 14 years of that holding management and executive positions. Throughout her career she spent 7 years in retail management where she received hands on experience with inventory control, distribution channel management, purchasing, sales management, market research and public relations. She has been a part of FKuR’s family of companies since 2007 first as the agent for North America and now as a consultant for FKuR Plastics Corporation in the United States.




William Hoffman, environmental scientist in green chemistry at UL Environment


Bill is currently working on the development of standards and guidance for standards within UL Environment including the green chemistry and sustainable chemistry aspects of product environmental performance, validation of claims and product certification. The goal of this work is to provide a strong technical basis to product environmental performance by using a deep scientific analysis of the environmental impact of a product while also assuring companies producing the product are using environmentally progressive manufacturing methods.




Moderator:
Joel Makower, Executive Editor, GreenBiz.com


Joel is Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com and author of "Strategies for the Green Economy," among other books. For more than 20 years, he has been a well-respected voice on business, the environment, and the bottom line. The Associated Press has called Joel "the guru of green business practices."




Sponsored By:
UL Environment

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The By-products of Biodiesel Production Are Valuable Organic Acids, Researchers Say

by Jade Boyd, Rice News Staff
July 22, 2008

In a move that could possibly change the economics of biodiesel refining, chemical engineers at Rice University have come up with a set of techniques for converting sometimes problematic biofuels waste into chemicals that fetch a profit.

The latest research, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, Rice University and Glycos Biotechnologies, involves a new fermentation process that allows E. coli and other enteric bacteria to convert glycerin — the major waste byproduct of biodiesel production — into formate, succinate and other valuable organic acids.

"Biodiesel producers used to sell their leftover glycerin, but the rapid increase in biodiesel production has left them paying to get rid of it," said lead researcher Ramon Gonzalez, Rice's William W. Akers Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. "The new metabolic pathways we have uncovered paved the way for the development of new technologies for converting this waste product into high-value chemicals."

About one pound of glycerin, also known as glycerol, is created for every 10 pounds of biodiesel produced. According to the National Biodiesel Board, U.S. companies produced about 450 million gallons of biodiesel in 2007, and about 60 new plants with a production capacity of 1.2 billion gallons are slated to open by 2010.

Gonzalez's team last year announced a new method of glycerol fermentation that used E. coli to produce ethanol, another biofuel. Even though the process was very efficient, with operational costs estimated to be about 40 percent less that those of producing ethanol from corn, Gonzalez said new fermentation technologies that produce high-value chemicals like succinate and formate hold even more promise for biodiesel refiners because those chemicals are more profitable than ethanol.

"With fundamental research, we have identified the pathways and mechanisms that mediate glycerol fermentation in E. coli," Gonzalez said. "This knowledge base is enabling our efforts to develop new technologies for converting glycerol into high-value chemicals."

Gonzalez said scientists previously believed that the only organisms that could ferment glycerol were those capable of producing a chemical called 1,3-propanediol, also known as 1,3-PDO. Unfortunately, neither the bacterium E. coli nor the yeast Saccharomyces — the two workhorse organisms of biotechnology — were able to produce 1,3-PDO.

Gonzalez's research revealed a metabolic pathway for glycerol fermentation, one that uses 1,2-PDO, a chemical similar to 1,3-PDO, that E. coli can produce.

"The reason this probably hadn't been discovered before is that E. coli requires a particular set of fermentation conditions for this pathway to be activated," Gonzalez said. "It wasn't easy to zero in on these conditions, so it wasn't the sort of process that someone would stumble upon by accident."

Once the new metabolic pathways were identified, Gonzalez's team began using metabolic engineering to design new versions of E. coli that could produce a range of high-value products. For example, while basic E. coli ferments glycerol to produce very little succinate, Gonzalez's team has created a new version of the bacterium that produces up to 100 times more. Succinate is a high-demand chemical feedstock that's used to make everything from noncorrosive airport deicers and nontoxic solvents to plastics, drugs and food additives. Most succinate today comes from nonrenewable fossil fuels.

Gonzalez said he's had similar success with organisms designed to produce other high-value chemicals, including formate and lactate.

"Our goal goes beyond using this for a single process," he said. "We want to use the technology as a platform for the 'green' production of a whole range of high-value products."

Technologies based on Gonzalez's work have been licensed to Glycos Biotechnologies Inc., a Houston-based startup company that plans to open its first demonstration facility within the next 12 months.