World's first facility for producing bioplastic from biodiesel co-product to be realised in Italy

08-Jan-16

An agreement signed today by Bio-on and S.E.C.I. S.p.A. part of Gruppo Industriale Maccaferri holding, will see Italy's and world's first facility for the production of PHAs bioplastic from biodiesel production co-products, namely glycerol. The two companies, operating in sustainable biochemistry and industrial development of levulinic acid with Eridania Sadam, will work together to build a production site with a 5000 tpa output, expandable to 10000 tpa. Requiring a 55 million Euro investment from S.E.C.I. the facility will be located at an Eridania Sadam site and will be the world's most advanced plant producing PHAs biopolymers from glycerol. The new factory will need skilled personnel specialised in fermentation to produce this revolutionary bioplastic. 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 with the advantage of being completely naturally biodegradable. "We are investing 4 million Euro in purchasing the license for this new technology developed by Bio-on," says Eridania Sadam ChairmanMassimo Maccaferri, "because this all-natural bioplastic represents a technological challenge that can contribute towards the growth of our group in the new "green" chemistry industry, with an eco-compatible and eco-sustainable approach". "We will create Italy's first PHAs production plant from glycerol with one of Europe's most important industrial groups," explains Marco Astorri, Chairman of Bio-on S.p.A. "We have granted the first technological license from glycerol in line with our expectations and will be entering into a new collaboration to develop the promising high-performing biopolymers business developed by Bio-on S.p.A. and produced in Italy from glycerol by S.E.C.I. S.p.a.". The collaboration between Bio-on and S.E.C.I. S.p.A. today reaches an important milestone and finalises another building block in the construction of the platform for bioplastic production in the future