On-Site The next big
On-Site The next big challenge was to convince all stakeholders that the only long-term option to solve global warming is by making a fully circular carbon use, while it still can be cost effective. Only if you absorb the carbon out of air, transform it into a monomers, polymerize it in drop-in solutions on existing equipment and burn it at the end of the lifecycle to recover the maximum amount of energy, we can reach a long-term sustainable solution. Fig. 9: Pilot installation Of course, also the cyanobacteria grow and a certain amount of them needs to be removed from the process. “But it is not really much,” Paul Koekoek explained. “It can be used as fertilizer, animal feed or put in a digester to get some biogas and get the nutrients back.” And Thomas Sampers, of Renolit added: ”It stays in the loop. That is the beauty of it. It’s true circularity”. The compounds are collected straight out of the tubes installation (Fig. 3, 7 and 9). The production can be upscaled comparably easily by simply laying more tubes. Latest update after our visit to Photanol in Amsterdam: in September Photanol has started up their first demonstration scale plant in Delfzijl in the North of the Netherlands. Cyanobacteria have been set free across thousands of meters of tubing laid out in a controlled greenhouse. This is the next step towards production of circular plastics, sustainable detergents, beauty and healthcare products and even biofuel (Fig. 4). Photanol’s platform technology makes it possible to create virtually any carbon compound, with the power to transform many industries to circular (Fig. 5). Photanol & Renolit - Outlook Renolit SE, the latest strategic partner of Photanol (cf bM 04/2020) is a 70-year-old company with a strong tradition in PVC but also in polyolefins. The products include specialty films and tubes for medical and pharmaceutical applications, special foils and sheets for the automotive sector and products for other industries such as home & building, maritime, advertising & packaging. In 2015 the former Board Member Pierre Winant had the idea to transform the medical business unit into more future driven, with one aspect getting their healthcare customers a fully circular packaging for medical products. He wanted to make the Renolit a zero carbon footprint company. A real challenge for a company whose products are based on fossil carbon resources. With that in mind, looking into bioplastics, at the 2016 European Bioplastics Conference, Renolit got in touch with Photanol. In the following months they started a discussion if it could be feasible to manufacture commodities via Photosynthesis. This discussion lead to a techno-economic feasibility study which was looking at two main elements. First: is it technically possible and what would be the main hurdles. Second: What is the price for both the development and a price prediction of the final monomer. After the decision to go this way, the strategic partners Photanol and Renolit developed a clear mutual understanding of the next steps in making the bacteria more effective while looking into the challenges which come when scaling up the technology. Both sides are closely cooperating in tackling the different challenges in the most effective way. Renolit, for example, is actively working on developing a high-performance and cost effective photobioreactor which will be a key element in scaling-up this technology. The photo-bioreactor tubes will be based on the know-how of Renolit from two different market units. On the one side has the Market Unit Healthcare a very high knowledge about bioreactor films, at the same time it is necessary to strongly reduce the effect of weathering – a key know-how of the Market Unit Waterproofing. Currently Renolit is active in designing a new tool to manufacture the concept. In future it could be even thinkable to go into vertical double helixes to further reduce the land-surface needed – these concepts are more realistic once Generation One is live and operating. The partners are in full process to make this solution scalable with the goal that non-fossil carbon based ethylene and propylene monomers can be offered to a wide array of users at a competitive price. This will require to broaden the partnership in order to bring the right expertise in and also widen the access to further customer bases. Together Towards Health: the promise of Renolit Healthcare to customers, patients and environment. Interesting times to come. We will stay tuned. www.photanol.com | www.renolit.com Info An animation and a video clip explain the whole idea and the process https://youtu.be/ ijMRUWfbp88 https://youtu.be/ WN6sSfN-Apg 28 bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/20] Vol. 15
Luminy® PLA bioplastics for a brighter future Biobased • Compostable • Innovative Total Corbion PLA is a global technology leader in Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) and lactide monomers. PLA is a biobased and biodegradable polymer made from renewable resources, offering a reduced carbon footprint versus many traditional plastics. The Luminy® PLA portfolio, which includes both high heat and standard PLA grades, is an innovative material that is used in a wide range of markets from packaging to consumer goods, fibers and automotive. www.total-corbion.com pla@total-corbion.com Breaking News New 100,000 tonnes PLA plant in Europe announced View of the site in Grandpuits, France where Total Corbion PLA intends to build its second Luminy PLA plant with a capacity ramping bioplastics up to 100,000 MAGAZINE tons [05/20] per Vol. annum 15 29
