ITOCHU Announces Launch of Pilot Project for Cellulose Nanofiber-Reinforced Plastic Logistics Materials

ITOCHU Corporation today announced the launch of a joint demonstration project for cellulose nanofiber (CNF) reinforced plastic logistics containers in collaboration with FamilyMart Co., Ltd. SANKO Co., Ltd. , and the Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University (headquartered in Uji, Kyoto; Mamoru Yamamoto, Director; hereinafter “Kyoto University”). The pilot demonstration project has already been selected for the FY2025 Cellulose-based Circular Economy Business Demonstration Project by Shizuoka Prefecture. This initiative will run for approximately six months from August 2025 at about 80 FamilyMart stores in Shizuoka to verify the performance of CNF-reinforced plastic containers.

CNF is produced from sustainably sourced wood and imparts high-performance characteristics such as strength and recyclability. Although the global CNF market size was estimated at only 6 billion yen in 2024, it is expected to see significant growth as a sustainable biomass-based alternative to replace fossil-based materials for decarbonization. Research institutes such as universities and companies in Japan have played a pioneering role in CNF research and development. However, commercial applications of CNF remain limited due to high cost and other challenges. The project aims to move forward the transition of the advanced material from R&D stage to commercial-scale industrial use.

ITOCHU has recently begun developing CNF-reinforced plastic logistics materials in collaboration with Sanko, the largest plastic logistics material manufacturer in Japan. CNF provides a sustainable solution by enabling the production of thinner, lighter and stronger plastic logistics containers. In response to current logistic challenges, FamilyMart, the second largest convenience store chain in Japan, decided to join the demonstration project prioritizing workload reduction and loading efficiency improvements. This initiative will mark the world's first implementation of CNF-reinforced plastic materials in a retail store setting.

The product developed in this project is a logistics material known as a shallow container (commonly known as a bat) for food transportation. Sanko will produce CNF-reinforced plastic shallow containers. FamilyMart will use them for chilled food transportation to about 80 stores in Shizuoka. In addition, Specially Appointed Professor Hiroyuki Yano, Kyoto University, one of the world-renowned authorities on CNF, will support its product performance assessment, environmental assessment and product engineering. The consortium will aim to achieve a reduction in thickness and weight of more than 15% and to explore other logistics applications.

source: ITOCHU CORPORATION

Clariant Catalysts and Shanghai Electric launch alliance to advance China's energy transition

Clariant, a sustainability-focused specialty chemical company, today announced that it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Boiler Works, a full subsidiary of Shanghai Electric, specializing in energy conversion and the development of new energy applications, to jointly foster innovation in sustainable energy solutions. The partners will combine their expertise to advance green energy projects in China. The agreement is the result of close and successful cooperation in Shanghai Electric’s new biomass-to-green methanol plant in Taonan, Jilin Province, China.

In addition to supplying its MegaMax catalysts, Clariant provided technical on-site support during the successful startup of the 50,000 tons/y plant. The second phase of the project, with a capacity of 200,000 tons/y green methanol and 10,000 tons/y SAF, is expected to start production in 2027. The ceremony for the official signing of the partnership contract took place last week at the Clariant Innovation Center in Frankfurt, Germany.

Georg Anfang, Vice President at Clariant, commented, “We are proud to add China's first biomass to green methanol plant in Taonan to a strong series of facilities that are already producing green methanol with our high-performance #MegaMaxcatalysts. As China is becoming one of the frontrunners in the energy transition, our strategic alliance with Shanghai Electric will further strengthen Clariant´s footprint as a key enabler to produce clean energy, chemicals, and fuels.

Qiu Jiayou, Vice President at Shanghai Electric, added, “We are proud of the successful launch of our new project and are equally delighted about our strategic agreement with #Clariant, a company which understands and shares our vision for the future. Our teams look forward to joining forces to develop exceptional, sustainable energy solutions for customers around the globe.”

Shanghai Electric is a global leader in industrial and energy solutions, specializing in power generation and transmission, intelligent manufacturing, and automation systems. The company leverages cutting-edge technological innovations to empower industries and deliver sustainable value.

The strategic cooperation agreement will unite Shanghai Electric’s process competence and plant design capabilities with Clariant’s catalyst expertise. The scope of the agreement includes collaborative research and development, engineering design services, supply of chemical equipment, and turnkey solutions. Clariant will share its extensive knowledge and advanced catalysts for producing green methanol, e-methanol, green ammonia, and sustainable aviation fuel, as well as for gas purification.

source : Clariant

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share :This new colorful plastic shines without dyes or pigments

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

This new colorful plastic shines without dyes or pigments

Plastics are one of the largest sources of pollution on Earth, lasting for years on land or in water. But a new type of brilliantly colored cellulose-based plastic detailed in ACS Nano could change that. By adding citric acid and squid ink to a cellulose-based polymer, researchers created a variety of structurally colored plastics that were comparable in strength to traditional plastics, but made from natural biodegradable ingredients and easily recycled using water.

Many plastics are dyed using specialized colorants, which can make these materials hard to recycle using typical processes. Over time, dyes can fade or leach into the environment, posing risks to wildlife. One way to make these colorants largely unnecessary could be a phenomenon called structural color. This occurs when tiny structures in a material reflect certain wavelengths of light rather than a dye or pigment molecule. Structural color gives peacock feathers and butterfly wings their vibrant hues and dazzling shine, but certain synthetic polymers display structural color as well.

Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), a derivative of cellulose often used in foods and pharmaceuticals, is one example of a material that can display structural color. In liquid form, it shines in iridescent tones, but its chemical properties have historically made it difficult to form into a solid plastic. So, Lei Hou, Peiyi Wu and colleagues wanted to see if they could fine-tune the chemistry of HPC to create vibrant, structurally colored plastics that worked as well as existing petroleum-based plastics and were environmentally friendly.

The researchers added citric acid, squid ink powder and water to the HPC polymer, which formed additional hydrogen bonds within the polymer, creating a firm material as it air-dried at room temperature. The dried material’s final hue depended on the amount of citric acid, so the researchers were able to create blue, green, orange and red versions. The final color intensity depended on the amount of squid ink powder present. Next, this liquid formulation was 3D-printed into a variety of shapes, molded into small structures, formed into a thin film and gently folded into pinwheels and origami cranes.  

Because the plastics dissolved in water, the original HPC-based plastic could be reformed into new shapes after being dried again. The recycled plastic had mechanical properties that were comparable or superior to those of most commercial, newly manufactured plastics. This work provides an efficient strategy to develop the next-generation of sustainable, dye-free plastics , the researchers say.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Research Foundation of the National Innovation Center of Advanced Dyeing & Finishing Technology.

source: American Chemical Society (ACS)

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Researchers develop a reusable HMA made from xylan

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Researchers develop a reusable HMA made from xylan

Professor Peng Feng's team from the School of Materials Science and Technology of Beijing Forestry University developed a high-performance, reusable bio-based hot melt adhesive (XA) using industrial byproduct crystalline xylan as raw material. This not only provides innovative ideas for the design of new biomass-based adhesives, but also provides new ideas and technologies for the high-value utilization of hemicellulose.

Xylan-based adhesive outperforms epoxies and EVAs

Xylan hemicellulose is an important natural polymer in plant cell walls, and together with cellulose and lignin, it constitutes the main component of wood fiber biomass. Hemicellulose is the second largest renewable carbohydrate resource after cellulose, and is abundant in crop straw and forest biomass. However, in the production process of pulp and paper industry and bioethanol industry, most of the #hemicellulose is degraded or dissolved after pretreatment, so it cannot be effectively utilized.

 

Professor Peng Feng's team reconstructed the molecules of #xylan through redox reactions, turning it into a new type of hot melt adhesive. The adhesive can be effectively cured under different heating conditions, including simple heating with a hair dryer or heating at 100°C for 5 minutes. 

 

According to tests, the bonding strength between wood substrates can reach about 31 MPa. Its mechanical properties are not only better than traditional petroleum-based commercial #epoxyresins and #EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer) #hotmeltadhesives, but also significantly better than the various bio-based adhesives reported so far prepared from biomass such as polysaccharides, proteins and polyphenols. More importantly, the xylan hot melt adhesive exhibits excellent reusability: after 10 heating-cooling curing cycles, its bonding strength can still be maintained at more than 100% of the initial value. 

 

This feature is significantly different from most existing biomass-based adhesives, which are usually not recyclable, thus limiting their sustainability in practical applications.

 

The research work was supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fund Project, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the 111 Program of the Ministry of Education. In addition, it was also supported by the Innovation Platform for High-value Utilization of Forest Resources of #BeijingForestryUniversity.

source : Beijing Forestry University /SpecialChem

Turning Agri-food and Lignocellulosic Residues into Bioplastics and Sustainable Polyurethane Materials

In the face of growing environmental concerns and the urgent need to reduce dependence on fossil resources, the development of circular and bio-based solutions is becoming increasingly important. One of the most promising approaches is the transformation of agricultural and food industry residues into high-value bio-based materials, such as biodegradable plastics and sustainable components for industrial applications. These innovations not only help reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions but also support the transition toward a more resilient and resource-efficient European economy.

In this context, the PROMOFER project, coordinated by #AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, and funded by the European Union’s CBE-JU, aims to unlock the potential of agri-food and lignocellulosic residues by converting them into two high-value bio-based compounds: PHBV, a biodegradable plastic, and 2,3-BDO, a key ingredient in the production of sustainable polyurethanes.

PROMOFER project focuses on different strategies to overcome key industrial bottlenecks in the fermentation processes of these two high-value bio-based compounds. After its first year of activity, the project consortium met on June 17 at University College Dublin to review progress across the different work packages. Key achievements include promising results in enzymatic hydrolysis, near-completion of microorganism characterization, and the first outcomes in the production of volatile fatty acids (VFAs). Work is also advancing on scaling up the fermentation processes and designing the production systems for PHBV and 2,3-BDO.

The second cycle of collecting agri-industrial waste is being organised, analysis of collected (agri and food) wastes has already been carried out. The project valorises a wide range of agri-food and lignocellulosic residues—including low-value starches, whey permeate, industrial wastewater, rice straw, wheat straw, and pruning waste.

Finally, analysing and supporting the social acceptance of circular bio-based products has been launched, whilst the project is being disseminated amongst stakeholders with the goal to achieve engagement and knowledge sharing.

The ambition of PROMOFER project is linked to the use of specific biobased wastes from different industries, generated in significant amounts in Europe and showing specific overcomes to be valorised into high-added value products and to improve fermentative processes to produce bioplastics (PHBV and PU), whose yield are often inefficient to compete with chemical synthesis processes.

On the one hand, agro-industrial wastes (low value starches, whey permeate, industrial wastewater) will be used to produce PHBV a biodegradable and biobased bioplastic. On the other hand, lignocellulosic biomass (rice straw, wheat straw and prune waste) will be used to produce 2,3-BDO a chain extender in thermoplastic polyurethanes.

PROMOFER will contribute to significant knowledge advancements of the state-of-the-art in biobased waste treatments, improvements of strain capacities, uses of biocatalysts, process designs and downstream processes.

PROMOFER is coordinated by AIMPLAS, and the Consortium counts 13 partners from 7 European Countries. The project will run for 48 months, until June 2028.

source: AIMPLAS

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Desert Plants new applications in various Industries

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Desert plants from Mexico may offer and attractive alternative to conventional fossil-based materials, with the potential to create innovative, high-value products.

#Nopal, a symbol of Mexican culture with approximately 300 species found in Mexico alone, plays a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance across many regions. Beyond its culinary value, nopal serves as a raw material for producing biodegradable plastics.

#Guayule, a desert shrub native to northern Mexico and the southern United States, is an important source of high-quality natural rubber (cis-1,4-polyisoprene). Similarly, natural fibers derived from desert plants provide sustainable reinforcement options for composite materials in industries such as automotive, aerospace, and construction.

For example, #Yucca filifera, a desert palm, yields fibers that enhance the tensile and flexural strength of polypropylene composites.

source: Roberto YANEZ

#polymers #DesertPlants #BioBasedMaterials #SustainableMaterials #NaturalFibers #Guayule #naturalrubber #mexico

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Heart Surgery with no cut on the chest

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

In a medical world-first, surgeons at Cleveland Clinic have successfully replaced a heart valve through a small neck incision, completely avoiding the need to open the chest.

Using robotic tools, Dr. Marijan Koprivanac led the team in performing transcervical aortic valve replacements on four patients, all of whom recovered quickly and with minimal pain. One patient even resumed running within a week.

The technique, adapted from robotic thymectomy, uses four small incisions and offers faster recovery, lower risk, and greater precision.

The team now aims to reduce surgery time and expand the procedure to other centers.

source: Eddie M

#ClevelandClinic #HeartValveReplacement #CardiovascularCare