Issue 03/2016

Basics
and thermoset applications, plastic formulators and
compounders, plastic part converters, distributors and
raw material suppliers, but also with universities, research
institutes, PHA competitors and engineering companies. It
is understood that the market potential for PHA products is
large enough and that some competitive intensity is required
for significant penetration.
Such alliances take many forms: technology licenses, toll
manufacturing, product distribution agreements, broadening
the product offering and joint development agreements often
combined with supply contracts.
Figure 3: Injection moulded PHA beach toys
(photo: Zoë B / Metabolix)
Customers always ask questions about supply security and
price development over time when new polymeric materials
are offered to them. This becomes even more relevant when
these new offerings are important for their brand image.
Paying a premium price compared to their fossil-based
alternatives is usually no problem, but within limits and
based on the understanding that the price will become costcompetitive
in the end. It is important to have a solid supply
security plan for the market if a PHA supplier would be the
single source for his specific product, which today often is the
case.
In summary PHA can be described as follows:
Figure 4: Examples of PHBH applications.
top: PHBH bed-pan (cf. bM 06/2013, 01/2014)
bottom: PHBH particle foam, (photo: Kaneka, bM 01/2010)
Strengths:
• Versatile biodegradability, unlike most other bio-based
polymers.
• Fully based on renewable feedstock, including waste
streams.
• Can be bioresorbable.
• The platform has a very large design space for property
tuning.
• Good in-use heat resistance, hydrolysis resistance and
oxygen permeability.
Weaknesses:
• Crystalline products show very slow crystallization from
the melt.
• Molecular chain scission above 160 °C.
• The cost/performance balance is still a challenge for some
suppliers.
Opportunities:
• Very suitable for use in marine or sweet-water
environments, because of degradability.
• PHA containing debris less of a problem in a marine
environment.
• High potential for food contact and biomedical
applications.
• Strong value chain alliances for accelerated market
penetration.
Threats:
• Inability to bring the manufacturing cost down to a
competitive level.
• Lack of competitive intensity.
• Underestimation of requirements for certifications,
registrations and regulatory approval processes.
40 bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/16] Vol. 11