28 November 2006 – DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products says it has made the first commercial shipments of Bio-PDO (a bio-derived 1.3-popanediol) from its $100m facility in Loudon, Tennesee, US.
The first shipments have been despatched to two industrial customers, including DuPont for production of its Sorona polyester polymer. Full scale production of Sorona using Bio-PDO will commence early next year, and will provide 40% renewable content to the polymer.
The Loudon plant uses a proprietary fermentation process to produce Bio-PDO from corn sugar. The production process is claimed to consume 40% less energy and produce 20% less greenhouse gas emissions than producing propanediol by the petrochemical route.
“Bio-PDO is a versatile ingredient for a number of products including specialty polymers such as Sorona, and also is well suited for cosmetics, liquid detergents and industrial applications like antifreeze,” says DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products president Steven Mirshak.
DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products, which is a 50:50 joint venture between DuPont and Tate & Lyle set up in 2004, says the new Bio-PDO products will be sold under the brand names of Zemea for personal care and liquid detergent markets and Susterra for industrial applications.
Latest developments in the bio-derived polymer marketplace will be discussed at EPN’s Bioplastics conference in Frankfurt, Germany, next week. The event will also host the world’s first Bioplastics Awards - winners will be announced at the Bioplastics conference dinner on 6 December 2006.
