SABIC, Aster Capital Invest in FibeRio to Scale-up its Forcespinning® Nanofiber Production Process

FibeRio, the developer and manufacturer of ground breaking Forcespinning® nanofiber production systems recently announced it has completed a $13M capital raise led by two global strategic investors — SABIC Ventures B.V., Saudi Basic Industries Corporation's corporate venture capital arm, and Aster Capital Partners, sponsored by Solvay, Schneider Electric, Alstom and the European investment fund. The funding will be used to accelerate the company's commercial growth, introduce larger scale production systems to the market and execute on a growing pipeline of orders and global opportunities with industry leading customers.

"The support of two of the leading, knowledgeable strategic investors in this space, SABIC and Aster Capital, is a strong validation of the uniqueness of our Forcespinning technology and will help the company accelerate our growth, open new markets and enable new applications for all of our customers" commented Ellery Buchanan, CEO of FibeRio. "This collaboration will greatly accelerate our vision of the Forcespinning process becoming the world's leading, cost effective process to produce nanofibers at scale never before achieved."

Forcespinning is a disruptive, platform technology which enables leading manufacturers to produce nanofibers on a truly commercial scale in a cost effective way using a wide range of polymers and an environmentally sensitive process. Forcespinning is the only fine fiber production system capable of both melt and solution spinning from lab scale to full industrial scale production. Unlike electrospinning, Forcespinning does not require materials to contain certain dielectric properties for processing which limits the materials that can be produced into fiber. Nanofiber applications are used in a variety of markets including filtration, nonwovens, battery separators, textiles, biomedical and conductive applications.

Hans Kolnaar of SABIC Ventures commented "FibeRio's unique processing technology not only increases our market reach, but offers SABIC an opportunity to move further down the value chain with innovative fibers for our customers."

"We view the cost effective production of nanofibers at scale as a key technological focus for the nonwovens marketplace for a wide variety of applications in the filtration, energy, medical, hygiene and textiles markets. Thanks to our sponsor, Solvay, we were able to validate that FibeRio has a unique breakthrough technology to accelerate nanofiber growth for all levels of production. We are excited to partner with a company that will be driving the deployment of nanofibers for the foreseeable future" commented Pascal Siegwart and Todd Dauphinais, partners at Aster Capital in a joint statement.

The combined breadth of resins represented by SABIC and Aster cover everything from commodity polymers such as polypropylene and nylon to high performance materials including fluoropolymers, polysulfones, polyethylene imines, and liquid crystal polymers among others. A number of these materials have never been made into nanofibers before and can offer materials performance advantages to FibeRio Forcespinning equipment customers. FibeRio, SABIC and Solvay will all benefit through the integration of a wide range of resins with Forcespinning technology.

FibeRio's existing shareholders also participated in this financing round, including the University of Texas System - UT Horizon Fund, the University of Texas — Pan American, the State of Texas, Silverton Partners and Cottonwood Technology Fund I. As part of this financing, James Wilson, of SABIC's Innovative Plastics Strategic Business Unit, and Todd Dauphinais of Aster Capital will join the FibeRio board of directors.

Source: FibeRio

Braskem Acquires HTS System for Synthetic Biology Project to Develop Renewable Polymers

To support its research in metabolic engineering, Braskem has acquired a High Throughput Screening (HTS) system from the U.S. company Hamilton, one of the world leaders in the field of robotics. This robot is Hamilton's most modern in use in South America and the first ever in Brazil to be used for this application.

The robot will be used in projects involving the genetic manipulation of microorganisms known as synthetic biology for the development of new renewable polymers. The HTS system will allow researchers' work to be multiplied by 100 to 1,000 times in the same period of time.

To learn more details about the robot's operations, four Braskem researchers will receive special training in the United States. Hamilton also created a technical support team in Brazil especially to provide support for the HTS system.

"The HTS system is yet another tool that will enable Braskem as well as Brazil to accelerate their development of competencies in biotechnology and position themselves as key players in the bioeconomy. Braskem has achieved results in synthetic biology and advanced biopolymers on par with those of the most renowned companies in these fields," said Avram Slovic, manager of Braskem's Biotechnology Program.

Source: Braskem

EU Commission to Form Observatory to Measure Developmental Progress of EU Union's Bioeconomy

The European Commission will establish an observatory to map progress and measure the impact of the development of the European Union's bioeconomy, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn announced today. The observatory will gather data to follow the evolution of markets, to map EU, national and regional bioeconomy policies, research and innovation capacities, and the scale of related public and private investments. The observatory will be coordinated by the Joint Research Centre, the Commission's in-house science service.

Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn said: "It's now one year since we launched our bioeconomy strategy. We are now seeing Member States seize the opportunity offered by the transition to a post-petroleum economy based on smart use of resources from land and sea. It's essential that they do because it will be good for our environment, our food and energy security, and for Europe's competitiveness in the future. This observatory will help keep the momentum going."

The observatory, which is a three year project, will start in March 2013 with the aim of making the data it will collect publicly available through a dedicated web portal in 2014. In this way, the observatory will support the regional and national bioeconomy strategies now being developed by EU Member States.

As well as providing data on the size of the bioeconomy and its constituent sectors the observatory should track a number of performance measures, including economic and employment indicators, innovation indicators, and measures of productivity, social wellbeing and environmental quality. It will also provide a "technology watch" and "policy watch", to follow the development of science and technology as well of policies related to the bioeconomy.

Already the bioeconomy in Europe is worth an estimated €2 trillion and 22 million jobs. The Commission is considering a new public-private partnership on bio-based industries to accelerate the development of the sector. A decision is expected in June 2013.

The commissioner made the announcement at a bioeconomy conference in Dublin organized by the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Background

The term "Bioeconomy" means an economy based on a smart use of biological and renewable resources from the land and sea, as inputs to food and feed, industrial and energy production. It also covers the use of bio waste, and of bio-based processes for sustainable industries.

The EU Bioeconomy Strategy, adopted on 13 February 2012, has three main pillars:

1. Investment in research, innovation and skills for the bioeconomy. This should include EU funding, national funding, private investment and enhancing synergies with other policy initiatives.
2. Development of markets and competitiveness in bioeconomy sectors by a sustainable intensification of primary production, conversion of waste streams into value-added products, as well as mutual learning mechanisms for improved production and resource efficiency. As an example, food waste costs the European taxpayer between €55 and €90 per ton to dispose of, and produces 170 million tons of CO. This waste could be transformed into bio-energy or other bio-based products, creating jobs and growth.
3. Reinforced policy coordination and stakeholder engagement, through the creation of a Bioeconomy Panel, a Bioeconomy Observatory and regular Stakeholder Conferences.

The strategy seeks synergies and complementarities with other policy areas, instruments and funding sources which share and address the same objectives, such as the Cohesion Funds, the Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies (CAP and CFP), the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP), environmental, industrial, employment, energy and health policies.

The strategy is one of the operational proposals under the Innovation Union and Resource-efficient Europe flagships of the Europe 2020 strategy. The need to increase public funding for bioeconomy research and innovation has been recognized under the Commission's future research program Horizon 2020: €4.7 billion has been proposed for the Challenge "Food security, sustainable agriculture, marine and maritime research, and the bioeconomy", with complementary funding in other areas of Horizon 2020.

Source: EUROPA

Lubrizol, Sekisui Jointly Invest in CPVC Resin Capacity Expansion to Support Construction Mkt

The Lubrizol Corporation announced recently its plans to increase its chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) resin capacity through a joint investment in a manufacturing facility with Sekisui Chemical Company, Ltd. The new facility, which is part of the company's Phase I capacity expansion, will be located in Thailand and will enable Lubrizol to meet its global customer demands, particularly in Asia Pacific. Initial resin capacity during this first phase will be 30,000 metric tons with a total investment of approximately $50 million over a two-year period and with full operation planned by the end of 2014, subject to regulatory approvals.

Phase I will be designed to allow for a future expansion as part of Phase II that will double the size of the plant to 60,000 metric tons with an additional investment of $50 million. The Phase II expansion is expected be operational by the end of 2016.

Lubrizol recognizes the global growth potential for CPVC products and is committed to ensuring product availability. CPVC resin manufactured at this site will be designed to meet Lubrizol's and Sekisui's required performance specifications and quality standards. Both companies will continue to independently market and sell CPVC resins and manufacture their own CPVC compounds for their respective customers.

"This is a significant step in expanding our CPVC business and we are pleased to be partnering with Sekisui on this effort," notes Eric Schnur, President of Lubrizol Advanced Materials. "We are committed to providing our customers with high quality CPVC products to support the global building and construction market. And with the construction of this new manufacturing facility, we are better positioned to support their future business growth."

Lubrizol is recognized as a global leader in reliability, quality and providing innovative solutions for its customers' high-performance application needs and remains committed to ongoing investment in its CPVC capabilities that support future growth. Lubrizol's advanced CPVC technology, sold under the FlowGuard®, BlazeMaster®, Corzan® and TempRite® brands, delivers exceptional performance for the plumbing, fire sprinkler, industrial and other building and construction related applications.


Source: The Lubrizol Corporation

Genomatica & DT&L's 1st Commercial-scale Production of BDO Completes Using Bio-based Process

Genomatica and DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products Company, LLC (DT&L) recently announced the first successful commercial-scale production of 1,4-Butanediol (BDO) using a bio-based manufacturing process. BDO is an intermediate chemical used in a wide variety of applications including athletic apparel, electronics and automotive applications. This campaign, which spanned five weeks in late 2012, produced more than five million pounds (over 2,000 metric tons) of BDO by direct fermentation using conventional sugars as feedstock. This marks the first time that BDO- with an existing worldwide market of billions of pounds per year — has been produced biologically on this scale and at this rate. This campaign was completed less than five years from when Genomatica first demonstrated the ability for a microorganism to produce BDO in 2008.

"This was a sizable commercial-scale production campaign," said Christophe Schilling, Genomatica's Chief Executive Officer. "Partnering with DuPont Tate & Lyle brought us biochemical process know-how at significant scale to make the leap from demonstration to commercial volumes. The success of this campaign is a significant milestone for our technology and for the biochemical industry."

DuPont Tate & Lyle has been running its leading-edge biochemical plant in Tennessee since 2006, producing 1,3-propanediol (PDO) at commercial volumes. The collaboration with Genomatica utilized DuPont Tate & Lyle's commercial-scale batch fermentation operation to feed the plant's continuous downstream processing.

"Utilizing Genomatica's developments we demonstrated the flexibility of our bioprocessing capability," said Todd Sutton, President, DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products. "We congratulate the Genomatica team on the development of their BDO technology and look forward to continued collaboration."

The accomplishments of the campaign achieved through this collaboration built on the successful demonstration-scale production of BDO previously confirmed in Decatur, IL by the teams at Genomatica and Tate & Lyle using Genomatica's proprietary BDO process.


Source: Genomatica

SABIC at MD&M West: Revealed Antimicrobial Resin Grades for Medical Equipment Manufacturers

The Netherlands -- According to a 2011 report by the World Health Organization, in 2002 in the United States alone approximately 99,000 deaths were linked to healthcare associated infections (HCAIs). At MD&M West 2013 [12-14 February], SABIC's Innovative Plastics business introduced powerful new tools to help medical device manufacturers reduce HCAIs among patients and clinicians. SABIC's nine new antimicrobial resin grades featuring silver technology have been tested for log reduction values — the level of microbes eliminated from a surface — according to the ISO 22196-2007 protocol. They comprise one of the broadest antimicrobial portfolios in the industry and offer distinct advantages over off-the-shelf antimicrobial concentrates combined with third-party resins.

Because SABIC scientists possess compounding expertise and a deep understanding of base resin and antimicrobial additive chemistries, they can optimize properties and performance to meet specific requirements. This new portfolio demonstrates SABIC's expertise and continued investment in developing healthcare materials that can empower customers globally to meet the ongoing challenges of infection prevention.

SABIC's New Portfolio of Antimicrobial Compounds Can be Used for Medical Equipment Like Healthcare Scanners

"We are proud of our vertically integrated approach, which delivers turnkey antimicrobial compounds containing low or high concentrations of silver and based on the four SABIC resins most commonly used in medical devices," said David Wildgoose, General Manager, Engineering Resins, Innovative Plastics. "Our solutions are backed by a robust healthcare product policy that provides a 'formula lock' and management of change provision to help OEMs avoid requalification delays of up to 12 months. Our comprehensive solution delivers multiple benefits to customers — consistency, cost-out, choice and proven performance according ISO methodology. We are confident these materials will make it easier for customers to create next-generation healthcare products while staying ahead of regulatory requirements."

Wide Selection of Antimicrobial Compounds

SABIC's portfolio comprises nine different antimicrobial grades across four product families: LEXAN™ EXL copolymer, LEXAN polycarbonate (PC) resin, XENOY™ PC/polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) resin and polypropylene (PP) resins with and without fiberglass reinforcement. Five grades have a high antimicrobial effect (log reduction value above 4, representing a 99.99 percent reduction in pathogens) and four grades have a low antimicrobial effect (log reduction value below 4, representing a 99.0-99.99 percent reduction in pathogens). These options allow customers to select the appropriate formulation depending on whether the end product is a high- or low-touch application.

These resins leverage silver-based antimicrobial technology because silver is a proven performer, well suited to diverse applications and widely accepted as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial, with activity against many pathogens including gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, mold and fungus. Because they are formulated to be effective at the lowest concentration of silver, SABIC resins may also be more cost-effective than competitive products.

Healthcare Product Policy for Added Confidence SABIC's antimicrobial resin grades are supported by its healthcare product policy, which gives customers confidence that these materials meet global standards for safety, are available in a consistently formulated supply and have been pre-assessed for biocompatibility.

The SABIC Healthcare Product Policy provides:

• Easily identifiable product nomenclature ("H" or "PCG" series resins)
• Biocompatibility assessment according to ISO 10993 or USP Class VI
• Food contact compliance for most healthcare products
• FDA Drug Master File and/or Device Master File listing (letter of authorization provided as needed)
• A formula lock and stringent management of change process

Compounding Surpasses Concentrates

Instead of mixing a third-party base resin with off-the-shelf concentrates, which can lead to inconsistent performance, SABIC performs its own compounding using proven, high-performance resins and additive chemistries. The benefits of SABIC compounding over concentrates include uniform distribution of the additive for better performance and less manufacturing waste.

By leveraging multiple material characteristics — such as impact resistance, chemical resistance, custom colors and processability — and their interactions with the additive while controlling the compounding process, SABIC can deliver highly specialized performance properties, such as the duration and strength of the antimicrobial. Of particular importance is SABIC's expertise in color and effects, which allows precise control over clarity, a property that can be impacted by antimicrobials. Potential applications include fluid and drug delivery applications, surgical instruments, monitoring and imaging devices and durable medical equipment such as hospital beds and operating tables. Other potential applications outside of healthcare include consumer electronics, automobile interiors, business equipment such as copiers or ATMs, or any other surface where there is a desire to reduce the potential transference of pathogens.

Potential applications include fluid and drug delivery applications, surgical instruments, monitoring and imaging devices and durable medical equipment such as hospital beds and operating tables. Other potential applications outside of healthcare include consumer electronics, automobile interiors, business equipment such as copiers or ATMs, or any other surface where there is a desire to reduce the potential transference of pathogens.

SABIC's new antimicrobial resins are manufactured in the United States.

Source: SABIC

ENGEL's e-mac Injection Molding Machine Sets Benchmark in Producing Tech & Electronic Modules

It's powerful, highly accurate, economical and compact — and the all-electric ENGEL e-mac injection molding machine is poised to set new benchmarks in the production of technical parts and electronic components. Starting on 12th February and extending into the summer, the ENGEL e-mac will be touring Europe, spreading the word through innovative applications, specialist lectures and windows for personal expert dialogue.

Once again, ENGEL will truly live up to its motto by getting 'close to the customer' with a roadshow. From north to south and east to west, the tour will traverse the continent. The event gets under way in the French town of Wissous on 12th and 13th February; from there it will move on to Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany as a start.

Using two applications as examples, the full potential of the machine series will be demonstrated live at ENGEL subsidiaries. Most impressively, connector housings will be produced from fiberglass-filled PBT/ASA using an ENGEL e-mac 310/100 with integrated ENGEL viper 6 linear robots. This will show how ultimate precision can be combined with maximum cost-effectiveness. Since the connector contacts are only inserted after injection molding, competitiveness is determined by dimensional stability in this application.

Maximum output from a small footprint:

From injecting and metering to mold and ejector movements, all drives in the ENGEL e-mac are servo-electric. This guarantees the best possible precision and process stability while maximizing the effectiveness of the machine as a whole. The drives are operated by a modern axis system solution with stabilized intermediate circuit; braking energy is recovered and fed back into the grid, thereby achieving very high energy efficiency. The synchronous movements of the drive axes ensure fast cycle times. With acceleration of more than 20 m/s2, the injection axis of the ENGEL e-mac is setting new standards around the world.

Full modularity and integration capacity:

The series has four machine sizes with clamping force of 50, 75, 100 and 180 tons. Thanks to the established CC 200 control unit in ENGEL injection molding machines, the ENGEL e-mac offers full modularity and automation technology integration. The highly compact design of the machine saves space in the production hall and cuts operating costs at the same time.

The ENGEL e-mac is coming!

Source: ENGEL