A new plant designed to product 2,000 tons per year of bioplastics from potato waste will be built in Italy through a collaborative effort between Bio-On, a sustainable chemicals technology company, and Pizzoli, Italy’s largest potato operator. The type of bioplastics produced will be PHAs, or polyhydroxyalkanoates, which have numerous applications and can replace a number of traditional plastics…

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Biovation, a Maine technology and design manufacturing company, developed an innovative, biobased, boot-drying technology that has performed well in tests conducted by the U.S. Marine Corps. The product, called DryRight™, is partially constructed from sustainable biopolymers. It works like this – the DryRight™ product is rolled and inserted into a wet combat boot. Over time, antimicrobial…

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Biovation, a Maine technology and design manufacturing company, developed an innovative, biobased, boot-drying technology that has performed well in tests conducted by the U.S. Marine Corps. The product, called DryRight™, is partially constructed from sustainable biopolymers. It works like this – the DryRight™ product is rolled and inserted into a wet combat boot. Over time, antimicrobial…

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Biobased Maine, a business alliance for advanced biobased products, promotes the sustainable use of renewable biomass from forests, farms, and sea to manufacture the next generation of biobased chemicals, materials, and fuels. We aim to expand biobased product manufacturing in Maine through applied research, technical assistance, and information sharing that supports new product development, process…

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According to this recent article in Industrial Biotechnology, global production of nanocellulose will increase substantially from now until 2020. Why such fast growth? Because cellulose, nature’s most abundant structural polymer, has limitless potential. When tiny particles of cellulose (called nano crystals or nano fibrils) are isolated from plants, you get nanocellulose. The potential applications for nanocellulose…

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Last month, Biobased Maine’s Vice President, Mike Belliveau of Environmental Health Strategy Center, spoke at the Midwest Bioeconomy and Safer Products Summit. His panel, “Phthalates: Science, Policy, and Safer Alternatives” focused on finding alternative solutions to harmful chemicals through green chemistry and biobased materials. Phthalates are a large group of chemicals that are widely used in…

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Feb 26 – As part of the 2014 Farm Bill, there will be $8.7 million available for bioenergy research and education efforts. According to Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, this program will: Support rural development Reduce the nation’s carbon footprint, and Reduce our dependence on foreign energy. Also, USDA is accepting applications for the Biomass Research and…

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Biobased Maine’s Vice President, Michael Belliveau, has been invited to speak at The Midwest Bioeconomy and Safer Products Summit: Regional Innovations Solving Global Problems next month in Minneapolis. The conference is hosted by The Minnesota Green Chemistry Forum, and Mike will be speaking on green chemistry and biobased alternatives to phthalates, a commonly used group of chemicals…

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Tetrapak, a global packaging producer, has created a milk carton made entirely of biobased materials, even the cap. Tetrapak collaborated with Braskem, the global leader in making polyethylene from sugar cane, to create the carton, which is made from both sugar cane and wood fiber. Some people are critical of bioplastics made from food crops (like…

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