OVERVIEW OF WORLD BIOPLASTICS TECHNOLOGY AND MARKETS: FUTURE DRIVERS, DEVELOPMENTS AND TRENDS FOR FLEXIBLE PACKAGING

Transcription

1 OVERVIEW OF WORLD BIOPLASTICS TECHNOLOGY AND MARKETS: FUTURE DRIVERS, DEVELOPMENTS AND TRENDS FOR FLEXIBLE PACKAGING Terence A. Cooper ARGO Group International SPE FlexPackCon 2016, Memphis TN

2 OUTLINE Basic definitions, classifications and drivers for bioplastics Evolving feedstocks and biobased monomer development and concept of platform chemicals Commercial and potential future biobased polymers for packaging, drop-in versus new polymers and key producers Biodegradable plastics for flexible packaging Some current flexible packaging markets and applications, and bioplastics growth projections and market trends Green issues, consumer and environmental concerns

3 CLASSIFICATIONS OF BIOPLASTICS BIOBASED OR RENEWABLE PLASTICS: Organic plastics composed wholly or significantly of recently fixed (new) carbon from biological sources such as renewable plant, forestry, animal, algal or marine materials (based on C 14 content measurement as defined by ASTM D6866) - USDA definition Renewable within 1-2 years (vs. millions of years for petro-) via plant-biomass photosynthesis from CO2 (biological carbon cycle) Focus is only on origin of carbon constituents May be fully biobased or partially biobased May be biodegradable or non-biodegradable. For nonbiodegradables, end-of-life process is recycling or recovery

4 CLASSIFICATIONS OF BIOPLASTICS BIODEGRADABLE AND COMPOSTABLE PLASTICS: Focus is only on disposal or end-of-life processes, independent of carbon sources Biodegradability is determined by polymer structure, not carbon source May be bio-based (renewable) or petro-(fossil-)-based THESE TWO CLASSIFICATIONS, BIOBASED AND BIODEGRADABLE, ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE NB: BIOBASED DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN BIODEGRADABLE AND BIODEGRADABLE DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN BIOBASED

5 DRIVERS FOR BIOPLASTICS Growing legislative, regulatory, NGO and consumer concerns over carbon footprint, climate change, environmental pollution and health; Paris Agreement (COP21) Increasing government and consumer demands worldwide to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and feedstocks and convert to renewables Conventional petrochemical plastics under attack, even though they use only about 2.5B barrels of oil annually (<3% of all oil used) Increasing legislation globally restricting uses and disposal of petrochemical plastics and promoting bioplastics Reduced production cost from agricultural/biomass feedstocks due to advances in catalysis, gasification, biotechnology and other processes to make cheaper, novel, improved-function materials Renewables are increasingly being seen as a fundamental pillar of a coming bioeconomy where biological sources produce energy, chemicals and materials with lower carbon footprint

6 USDA CERTIFIED BIOBASED PRODUCT LABELING PROGRAM SETS MINIMUM THRESHOLD OF 25% NEW CARBON FOR PRODUCTS TO BE CONSIDERED BIOBASED FIRST CERTIFIED BIOBASED PRODUCT LABELS AWARDED MARCH NOW OVER 2700 CERTIFIED PRODUCTS

7 EUROPEAN COMMISSION LEAD MARKET INITIATIVE Standards, labeling and certification Legislation promoting market development Product specific legislation and goals, e.g. Packaging Waste Directives, Producer Responsibility and Plastic bag directive. Innovation and legislation promoting development of biomass sources Encouragement of Green Public Procurement Financing and research funding Circular economy package

8 EUROPEAN BIOBASED CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS VINCOTTE OK BIOBASED Certification marks for biobased content levels of: 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% >80% DIN CERTCO Requires minimum organic material proportion of 50% and minimum biobased proportion of 20% Certification marks for biobased content levels of: 20-50% 50-85% >85%

9 BIOBASED CHEMICALS, MONOMERS AND POLYMERS DEVELOPMENT Rapid development of biobased routes from renewable feedstocks to make existing petrochemical-based monomers, polymers, plasticizers and chemicals, producing drop-in replacements from renewable sources Many large chemical and petrochemical companies are now involved together with small companies and start-ups Key factor in routes from lab to commercialization is partnering of groups of companies where each contributes different parts of the technologies and market knowledge required Not possible 10 years ago. Necessary catalyst, biotechnology & synthetic biology knowhow now becoming available in tandem with current drivers e.g. volatile oil prices, fossil feedstock substitution, increasing focus on renewables, climate change (Paris agreement), sustainable development, circular economy, environmental concerns and consumer demands. USDA: 2014, biobased products industry contributed $393 billion and 4.2 million jobs to US economy, displacing 300 Mgal petroleum and 10Mt CO2. Milken Institute/USDA study (2013): $720B opportunity for US renewables in next decade, equivalent to 20% of chemicals markets.

10 EVOLVING FEEDSTOCKS FOR BIOBASED POLYMERS FOOD CROPS, BY-PRODUCTS AND WASTES Polysaccharides starches (corn, potato, tapioca, rice, pea etc), sugars, pectin, chitosan, gums, alginates etc Fats and Oils: Animal: fatty acid glycerides Vegetable: soy, castor, palm, waxes, triglycerides, etc Algal: oils Proteins: Animal proteins: keratin, casein, whey, gelatin, collagen, spider silk, meat, blood and bone meal Vegetable proteins: soy, zein, gluten Algal and fungal proteins NON-FOOD CROPS AND WASTES Lignocellulosic biomass wood, straw, stover, bagasse, grasses Cellulosics cotton, paper and paperboard Biomethane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide

11 CONCEPT OF PLATFORM CHEMICALS IMPORTANT CONCEPT To make a renewably sourced material, it is only necessary to make the FIRST chemical or monomer in the synthesis chain from a renewably sourced feedstock This first chemical or monomer is called a platform chemical or monomer and can be made from the renewable feedstock using biological, chemical, thermal, pyrolytic, supercritical, catalytic or other processes All of the later synthetic steps can then be performed using standard chemical processes which have already been developed for petrochemical-based materials For some materials such as copolymers, it may be necessary to have two or more platform chemicals, i.e. one for each monomer, to make them fully biobased, e.g. polyesters, polyamides, ethylene copolymers

12 BIOETHYLENE CHEMICAL PLATFORM 60% Ethanol Ethylene Polyethylenes Styrene Monomer 7% Polymers/Rubbers Ethanol production ~ World Ethanol Production ~ 70 million tonnes Ethylene Oxide/Glycol 14% Polyester World Ethylene Production ~ 110 million tonnes EDC 12% PVC Source: NNFCC Other 7% Alpha Olefins PVA

13 GEVO RENEWABLE ISOBUTYLENE PLATFORM

14 SOME BIOBASED MONOMERS AND CHEMICALS AT COMMERCIAL OR PILOT PLANT SCALE OLEFINS: Ethylene Braskem Isobutylene -- Gevo, Butamax, Lanxess, Global Bioenergies/Loreal, Envergent ACIDS AND DERIVATIVES: Lactic acid -- Cargill, Corbion, Myriant, Galactic-Total, Cellulac, etc Succinic acid -- DSM-Roquette (Reverdia), BioAmber-DNP, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Myriant, METEX, PTT, BASF-Corbion (Succinity), Showa Denko Adipic acid -- Verdezyne, Rennovia, Genomatica, BioAmber, Celexion 2,5-Furan dicarboxylic acid and esters Avantium/BASF, Dupont/ADM GLYCOLS, POLYHYDRIC ALCOHOLS AND POLYOLS: Ethylene glycol -- India Glycols, Greencol, JBF, FENC, S2G, Liquid Light Propane 1,3 diol -- DuPont/Tate & Lyle, ADM, BASF/Oleon, METEX Butanediol Novamont/Genomatica, DuPont/Tate & Lyle, Myriant, BioAmber, Mitsui, LanzaTech Polyols -- Biobased Technologies, Cargill, Ford (from soybean oil); Covestro (from CO2) DIAMINES: Hexamethylene diamine Verdezyne, Rennovia, Amyris Caprolactam -- Amyris C4 and C5 diamines -- DSM, Cathay Biotechnologies

15 SOME NON-BIODEGRADABLE BIOBASED PLASTICS FOR FLEXIBLE PACKAGING Commercial: POLYOLEFINS - PE from bioethanol (totally biobased) Polyolefin/starch blends (partially biobased) POLYAMIDES - PA 5,10; (totally biobased); PA 4,10; 5,6; 6,10; 6,12; 10,10; 10,12 (partial bio) POLYESTERS - PET (PlantBottle ) partially biobased Developmental: POLYOLEFINS: Polypropylene, PVC POLYESTERS: PET (totally biobased) PEF polyethylene furanoate PTF polytrimethylene furanoate POLYAMIDES: PA 6,6 Mostly conventional rather than new polymers

16 ADVANTAGES OF RENEWABLE DROP-IN CONVENTIONAL MATERIALS Current development largely for renewably-sourced conventional polymers rather than new polymers, since: Market, supply chain and business infrastructure already developed (generally more difficult than science and technology) Downstream conversion technology is understood and integrated manufacturing infrastructure available Downstream products are identical to petrochemical products and fit existing conversion, applications and end-of-life infrastructure Drop-in materials are chemically identical to petro-based materials and compete only on cost and quality 16

17 SOME PRESENT AND POTENTIAL MANUFACTURERS OF BIOBASED NON-BIODEGRADABLE PACKAGING POLYMERS Braskem, DSM, Solvay, Arkema, Sabic Polyethylene, PP, PVC DuPont, Teijin, DSM, SK Chemicals, Toray, Indorama, M&G Polyesters BASF, DSM, Arkema, DuPont, Toray, Cathay Polyamides Avantium/BASF, Dupont/ADM, Micromidas Furanoate polymers

18 GREEN POLYETHYLENE Braskem production in Brazil started 2010 using ethylene from sugar cane ethanol, capacity 200 ktpa HDPE, LDPE and LLDPE grades available, identical to petro-pe made by same polymerization process Currently higher cost than PE from shale gas ethylene Advantageous carbon footprint and global warming potential over petro-ethylene and provides green marketing credentials Early packaging users have included Coca-Cola (Odwalla), P&G, Danone, J&J, Tetra Pak, Avery Dennison, Seventh Generation and Nestlé

19 COCA-COLA PLANTBOTTLE

20 Coca-Cola PlantBottle Current PlantBottle PET bottles made with up to 30% by weight (the ethylene glycol component) from sugarcane sources This is up to 20% of renewable carbon

21 BIOBASED ROUTES TO TEREPHTHALIC ACID Via p-xylene isobutene p-xylene terephthalic acid Gevo: Fermentation of plant sugars (from lignocellulosic biomass) to isobutanol, then chemical route to isobutene and p-xylene Virent (Tesoro)/Renmatix: Chemical catalytic BioForming Platform from plant sugars or cellulosic biomass to p-xylene. 10,000 gallon/yr pilot plant in operation. 100% biobased PET bottles exhibited with Coca-Cola at Milan Expo Anellotech/Suntory/Toyota: Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis (BioT-Cat) route to convert biomass to aromatics (BTX). Pilot plant in Silsbee TX Micromidas: Fermentation process from cellulosics to furanic intermediates to p-xylene BioBTX bv (Holland): Catalytic pyrolysis from glycerol. Pilot plant 2017

22 BIOBASED VERSUS PETRO-BASED FEEDSTOCKS FOR TEREPHTHALIC ACID PRODUCTION Petroleum is hydrogen-rich while biomass, cellulosics and glycerol are oxygen-rich and relatively hydrogenpoor BTX (benzene-toluene-xylene) production from petroleum generates co-product hydrogen. Biomass conversion to BTX requires added hydrogen, causing additional cost or reduced raw material efficiency p-xylene must then be oxidized again to make TPA, removing the hydrogen just added This leads to low overall terephthalic acid yields (<50%) based on plant sugars or (ligno)cellulosics and higher cost than petrochemical routes 22

23 POLYETHYLENE FURANOATE (PEF) Avantium/BASF; Dupont/ADM; Micromidas; AVA Biochem; Corbion: routes from plant sugars or cellulosics to furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA): as alternative monomer to terephthalic acid Potentially more favorable economics from plant sugars than terephthalic acid. No added hydrogen is needed. Requires less than half the mass of sugar to produce a kg of FDCA compared to purified TPA (A. Harlin, VTT, Finland data) Produces PEF as alternative to PET with improved properties

24

25 FURANOATE POLYESTERS AVANTIUM POLYETHYLENE FURANOATE (PEF): Pilot plant in operation in Geleen, Holland. Development with Coca Cola for beverage bottles, Danone for food packaging, and ALPLA Werke $50million consortium with Danone, Swire Pacific and Coca-Cola to commercialize PEF for packaging million raised for commercial plant. Investors include Coca-Cola, ALPLA and venture capital. BASF JV Synvina to build 50ktpa plant in Antwerp BE. Strategic partnerships with Mitsui and Toyobo for film, sheet and fiber products in Asia. DuPont/ADM - POLYTRIMETHYLENE FURANOATE (PTF) Furane dicarboxylic acid methyl ester (FDME) 60tpa pilot plant planned in Decatur, IL.

26 BIODEGRADABILITY Biodegradable - undergoes enzymatic fragmentation and degradation by microorganisms to form water, CO2 (aerobic) and methane (anaerobic) Very imprecise term no defined criteria, environments, products or time limits. Biodegradability under one set of conditions does not necessarily imply biodegradability under other conditions COMPOSTABILITY Meets specific requirements of industrial compostability (eg ASTM D6400, EN13432 or JIS K6950 ) or home compostability standards (Vincotte OK Home Compost) aerobic processes Certification covers a product, not just a material, and includes determining the maximum thickness of material which can be degraded within one composting cycle Not all biodegradable materials are biobased and not all biobased materials are biodegradable. NOT a license to litter.

27 MAJOR COMPOSTABLE CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS VINCOTTE OK Compost and OK Compost HOME EN13432 Association for Organics Recycling (AfOR)UK. DIN CERTCO Japan Green Pla Biodegradable Product Institute (BPI) US ASTM D-6400

28 BIODEGRADABLE AND COMPOSTABLE PLASTICS Major current commercial types are: Polylactic acid (PLA) biosourced lactic acid monomer from starches or biomethane, then ring-opening chemical polymerization Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs; PHB, PHBV, PHBH etc) - direct fermentation of starch, plant-based fatty acids or biomethane Aliphatic and aliphatic/aromatic copolyesters (PBS, PBSA, PBAT, PCL) mostly petro-based but becoming biobased Starch blends and derivatized starch blends Cellulose and some derivatives and blends Under development: Protein-based materials, e.g. keratin-, zein-, casein-, whey and soybased (e.g. whey-based barrier layers) Bacterial-, algal- and fungal-based materials

29 SOME CURRENT LEADERS IN BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS Primary Polymer Producers PLA NatureWorks-PTT, Corbion, Hisun PHAs From starches: - Kaneka, CJ CheilJedang, Ecomann, Tianjin BioGreen/DSM, Tianan, Bio-On From sucrose: Biomer From plant oils: MHG From biomethane: Newlight (Ikea), Mango Materials Aliphatic/Aromatic Polyesters (PBAT) BASF, Jinhui Zhaolong, Kingfa, Xinfu Aliphatic Polyesters (PBS, PBSA etc) Kingfa, Xinfu, Sinoven, DSM, Mitsubishi, Showa Denko, Hexing, Novamont, SK Chemical Polycaprolactone Perstorp, Daicel, BASF

30 PROJECTED GLOBAL BIOPLASTIC CAPACITY

31 BIOPLASTICS PRODUCTION CAPACITY BY POLYMER TYPE Polymer Type 2014 Volume Ktpa 2019 Projected Ktpa Bio-Polyethylene Partially-biobased PET Polylactic acid Starch blends Biodegradable polyesters Polyhydroxyalkanoates

32 GLOBAL BIOPLASTICS CAPACITY BY MARKET

33 MAJOR CONCERNS WITH BIOBASED POLYMERS Use of foodstuff feedstocks. Major work on routes from non-food biomass to avoid competition with food Land and water availability and competition for these with foodstuffs and other uses Whether bioplastics really have lower carbon footprints than petroleum-based materials, given agricultural and fuel inputs to grow the crop feedstocks Not all chemical and polymer production will become bio-based. BIOPOLYMERS WILL ONLY BE SUCCESSFUL IF: 1. Equal product functionality is delivered at the same or lower cost 2. New functionality is provided at acceptable cost 3. The carbon footprint in the value chain is improved

34 FUTURE GROWTH OF BIOPLASTICS IN PACKAGING This will depend on: Future trends in oil prices and impact of shale gas Continuing transition from petro-based to biobased feedstocks and improvements in bioplastics pricing, carbon footprint and performance Development of economic production routes from non-food feedstocks of biobased monomers and polymers identical to existing petrochemical counterparts which are drop-ins for existing processes, manufacturing facilities and recycling infrastructure Increasing deployment of recycling, recovery and disposal (composting, anaerobic digestion) infrastructure to aid sustainability How well the use of bioplastics addresses future environmental, societal, political and economic issues

35 THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST DR. TERENCE A. COOPER ARGO GROUP INTERNATIONAL US Phone: ; UK Phone: +44 (0) ; +44 (0) Specialist consultancy services in: Water-soluble, biodegradable and compostable plastics Biobased and renewably-sourced plastics Materials and formulation development and selection Market and applications development and analysis Member of the Plastics Consultancy Network and the Chemical Consultants Network