TerraVerdae Makes Major Strides in Commercializing its Line of PHA Biomaterial Products

TerraVerdae has made major strides over the past several months in moving the company’s technology closer to the goal of full commercial production for our biodegradable bioplastic products.

In July, we announced a major milestone in the scale-up optimization of the bioprocess we use to manufacture PHA bioplastics from waste-derived methanol. Funded by a major grant from Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions, our unique C1-based bioprocess represents a paradigm shift in economics and sustainability compared to traditional food or sugar-based bioprocesses, and is very adaptable to a variety of high performance biomaterials.

The first of our products using this technology, biodegradable microspheres, are a natural, drop-in substitute for plastic microbeads commonly used in personal care and cosmetic products like toothpaste and body scrubs. We are also developing a portfolio of additional performance products for the $200 billion global bioproducts market, including biodegradable 3D printing materials, specialty films and performance coatings.

In August, we announced the successful scale up of our C1 bioprocess technology from laboratory pilot scale to 10,000+ litre capacity, validating our process and production economics for commercial deployment. This ‘commercial pilot-scale’ production for our PHA-based biomaterials included a number of 10,000 litre production runs of our biodegradable, natural microspheres for use in personal care and cosmetic products, as a direct replacement for synthetic, non-degradable plastic microbeads.

Supported by a grant from Innovate UK, and in collaboration with researchers at the UK’s Centre for Process Innovation, one of the world’s leading facilities for process innovation in the industrial bioprocess arena, this was an important milestone for the company, and potentially the industry. TerraVerdae is currently in product testing with cosmetics manufacturers and other potential partners for our line of microspheres

Source

TerraVerdae, press release, 2015-10-19.

Supplier

Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions
Innovate UK
TerraVerdae BioWorks
The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI)

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