Issue 04/2016

News
Biobased glycol
S2G BioChemicals Inc., a Vancouver, (Canada) based developer of sustainable chemical conversion technologies, has
announced in mid June that the Company has successfully initiated commercial production of fossil-free, bio-based glycols at
the Memphis (Tennessee, USA) site of the Company’s operating partner, Pennakem LLC.
S2G’s proprietary, highly-efficient process was integrated into Pennakem’s existing chemical facility beginning in April 2016
and has produced industrial-grade sugar-based glycols from natural, non-food waste during a five-week scale-up campaign.
The bio-glycols will be used as a drop-in replacement for common petroleum-based chemicals currently used in a wide range
of consumer and industrial products such as resins, PET/PEF plastic drink containers, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, coolants
and antifreeze.
“The successful demonstration of S2G’s Bio-Glycol Process at scale validated the reliability and economic viability of our
technology based on solid operational experience,” said Mark Kirby, President and Chief Executive Officer of S2G. “While glycol
supply has long been dominated by oil and natural gas, S2G has proven our ability to provide natural, fossil-free glycols that
challenge petrochemical glycols on both cost and performance.”
In addition, S2G achieved three significant customer-based milestones throughout the campaign. These included successful
product evaluations by multiple industrial customers; the sale of bio-glycols to an industrial resin plant; and, the production of
sample quantities of United States Pharmacopeia (USP) quality propylene glycol (PG) that has been reserved for select glycol
customers who have expressed interest in sourcing high quality bio-glycols as a replacement for their petrochemical-derived
sources.
“S2G bio-glycols have identical performance to petroleum-based materials, yet they generate far less greenhouse gas
emissions,” said Jeff Plato, Director, Corporate and Business Development of S2G. “S2G looks forward to its products
being integrated into the value chains of multi-national consumer and industrial product companies who want to curtail
petrochemical-use and provide more sustainable products for their customers.”
“We are extremely impressed with the seamless integration of S2G’s innovative, high-yield bioconversion process into our
existing chemical production infrastructure,” said Tom Waldman, President of Pennakem. “The combination of S2G’s innovative
process and Pennakem’s 75 years of manufacturing expertise using biorenewable feedstocks will lower costs and could
catalyze the demand for sustainably and economically produced bio-based glycols.”
S2G’s sugar-to-glycol technology is a simple, durable, and efficient process that utilizes low-cost renewable feedstocks
to co-produce an economical supply of high value speciality chemicals and sustainable bio-glycols for use by consumer and
industrial product manufacturers. MT
www. s2gbiochem.com
Processing performance of bioplastics – A new
database for manufacturing companies
Embedded in the framework of a joint project of four partners, process data of bioplastics, which are available in the market,
are clearly arranged as a new, freely accessible internet database. The database provides users an opportunity to address the
two approaches concerning the processing of bioplastics, which arise either out of material properties or process techniques.
In the first case, the user has the knowledge of conventional materials but is looking for a bioplastic alternative, which can be a
suitable substitute. Concerning the second case, the user can simulate the process technique by searching for the appropriate
bioplastic that is suited for this process technique from the database.
For a quick orientation, the first material evaluation results for the database user are categorized by means of a traffic light
system. If the user has made a pre-selection, he can now delve deeper into the subject by viewing the data collected during the
project. The user can easily transfer the data in the form of reports, to his machine.
Derived from the focus of the project, the different processing characteristics such as blow moulding or demoulding behavior
in the injection moulding process are being dealt with. The process data is based on scientific laboratory experiments as well
as experimental setups from practice. They serve users as code of practice in the processing of bioplastics.
In addition to this database, a guideline was published. Both the database and the guideline are currently in German language.
only. They will soon be also available in English.
This project is supported by the German Ministry of Food and Agricultur. MT
www.biokunststoffe-verarbeiten.de
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/16] Vol. 11 7