World first facility for producing bioplastic from biodiesel co-product glycerol, to be realised in Italy

Industrial licence granted

BOLOGNA, 22 December 2015 – An agreement signed today by Bio-on and S.E.C.I. S.p.A. part of Gruppo Industriale Maccaferri holding, will see Italy’s and world’s first facility for the production of PHAs bioplastic from biodiesel production co-products, namely glycerol. The two companies, operating in sustainable biochemistry and industrial development of levulinic acid with Eridania Sadam, will work together to build a production site with a 5 thousand tons/year output, expandable to 10 thousand tons/year.
Requiring a 55 million Euro investment from S.E.C.I. the facility will be located at an Eridania Sadam site and will be the world’s most advanced plant producing PHAs biopolymers from glycerol. The new factory will need skilled personnel specialised in fermentation to produce this revolutionary bioplastic.

PHAs, or polyhydroxyalkanoates, are bioplastics that can replace a number of traditional polymers currently made with petrochemical processes using hydrocarbons. The PHAs developed by Bio-on guarantee the same thermo-mechanical properties with the advantage of being completely naturally biodegradable.

“We are investing 4 million Euro in purchasing the license for this new technology developed by Bio-on,” says Eridania Sadam Chairman Massimo Maccaferri, “because this all-natural bioplastic represents a technological challenge that can contribute towards the growth of our group in the new “green” chemistry industry, with an eco-compatible and eco-sustainable approach”.

“We will create Italy’s first PHAs production plant from glycerol with one of Europe’s most important industrial groups,” explains Marco Astorri, Chairman of Bio-on S.p.A. “We have granted the first technological license from glycerol in line with our expectations and will be entering into a new collaboration to develop the promising high-performing biopolymers business developed by Bio-on S.p.A. and produced in Italy from glycerol by S.E.C.I. S.p.a.”.

The collaboration between Bio-on and S.E.C.I. S.p.A. today reaches an important milestone and finalises another building block in the construction of the platform for bioplastic production in the future.

 

About SECI S.p.A.

Gruppo Industriale Maccaferri is part of the family holding company, S.E.C.I., which operates in various business areas through its controlled companies: Officine Maccaferri (environmental engineering), Manifatture Sigaro Toscano (tobacco), Eridania Sadam (food and agro-industry), Samp (mechanical engineering), Seci Real Estate (construction), Seci Energia (renewable energy). The group, chaired by Gaetano Maccaferri, has 57 plants around the world, over 5,000 employees and ended 2014 with a turnover of 1,102 million Euro.

Contact

Piero Tatafiore
Gruppo Industriale Maccaferri Corporate Communication Manager
Office +39 06 68804827
email: p.tatafiore@maccaferri.it

About BIO-ON

Bio-On S.p.A., an Italian Intellectual Property Company (IPC), operates in the bioplastic sector conducting applied research and development of modern bio-fermentation technologies in the field of eco-sustainable and completely naturally biodegradable materials. In particular, Bio-On develops industrial applications through the creation of product characterisations, components and plastic items. Since February 2015, Bio-On S.p.A. has also been operating in the development of natural and sustainable chemicals for the future.

Bio-On has developed an exclusive process for the production of a family of polymers called PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates) from agricultural waste (including molasses and sugar cane and sugar beet syrups). The bioplastic produced in this way is able to replace the main families of traditional plastics in terms of performance, thermo-mechanical properties and versatility.

Bio-On PHA is a bioplastic that can be classified as 100% natural and completely biodegradable: this has been certified in Europe by Vincotte and in the US by USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). The Issuer’s strategy envisages the marketing of licenses for PHAs production and related ancillary services, the development of R&D (also through new collaborations with universities, research centres and industrial partners), as well as the realisation of industrial plants designed by Bio-On.
The alphanumeric codes for ordinary shares “ON” IT0005056236, for ordinary shares “ON” with bonus share IT0005056228 and for warrants “WARRANT Bio-On 2014-2017” IT0005056210. The minimum unit of trading envisaged by the Italian Stock Exchange is 250 shares.

Company Nomad is EnVent S.p.A.. Banca Finnat Euramerica S.p.A. acts as company specialist.

 

Contact

Bio-On S.p.A.
Marco Astorri
Tel: +39 051 893001
email: info@bio-on.it

Source

Bio-on, press release, 2015-12-22.

Supplier

Banca Finnat Euramerica S.p.A.
Bio-on
Nomad Mobili
SECI S.p.A.

Share

Renewable Carbon News – Daily Newsletter

Subscribe to our daily email newsletter – the world's leading newsletter on renewable materials and chemicals

Subscribe