Metabolix product

This class of polymer was first launched commercially by ICI in 1990 under the trade name Biopol. Despite high hopes for mass commercial production of this material it has so far largely failed as a commercial polymer. In 1996 the business was sold to Monsanto who later sold the business to Metabolix, who also had a small business producing PHAs. 

Metabolix has since developed lower-cost fermentation technology for PHAs, which the company claims would permit commercial-scale production for under 2.20/kg (25). Production at this cost could open up a significant market for fermentation-based PHAs. 

A still lower-cost route to PHAs is genetic modification of plants to directly produce the final polymer. Monsanto (and others) pursued this approach and is currently being cofunded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) in a collaborative research project led by Metabolix. Switchgrass will be modified to produce PHAs, which can then be extracted from the plant material and processed to obtain a consistent composition and the desired material properties. The plant material remaining after PHA extraction can be used to produce fuels, power, or other products, creating the opportunity for a "plants as factories" biorefinery. Applications for polymers with properties similar to those of PHAs consume on the order of 13.6 million metric t annually, and it is possible that in the future PHAs will figure prominently in the plastics market. 

Biopol, produced by Metabolix, is a leading example of an improved poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), P(3HB-3HV), heteropolymer. Compared to PHB, P(3HB-3HV) is less stiff, tougher, and easier to process, making it more suitable for commercial production. It is also water resistant and impermeable to oxygen, increasing its value. 

Metabolix Inc., is a private firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, that was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992 and acquired biopolymer technology from Monsanto Inc. in 2001. Metabolix began its first commercial production of organic polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) resin, based on corn sugar in 2005 at an undisclosed location in the Midwest. The plant was expected to produce around 100 tonnes of material in 2005 and close to 1000 tonnes in 2006. 

The first commercial product using Metabolix PHA will be a soil stake used in farming. The item was available from early 2006. 

At present, Metabolix Inc (Cambridge, MA) andTepha Inc (Lexington, MA) are most probably the most advanced companies in this area. Metabolix has build together with Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) a new plant in Clinton (Iowa) to produce about 50000 tons per year of various PHAScl for bulk applications. Tepha is focusing on the production of various sophisticated medical devices like sutures, cardiovascular tissues, meshes etc. 

For more than 10 years, new synthesis techniques have been under study at an industrial level. Metabolix (USA) has developed a means of PH A production using genetically modified cultures. In 2010, that company announced that it had performed conclusive tests on PHA production on modified tobacco plants, stemming from green biotechnologies. 

PHA is produced by different bacterial strains. One of the most studied strain is C. necator (formerly known as Wautersia eutropha, Ralstonia eutropha or Alcaligene eutrophus). It was used in industrial production by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI PLC) to produce P(3HB-co-3HV) under the trade name of BiopoF. The Biopol patents have now been acquired by Metabolix Inc. (USA) (Verlinden et al. 2007). Until now, C. necator is still being used widely for bacterial fermentation as it is an efficient strain. Other important strains that have been studied for PHA production are Bacillus spp., Alcaligenes spp.. Pseudomonas spp., Aeromonas hydrophila, Rhodopseudomonas palustris, recombinant Escherichia coli, Burkholderia sacchari, and Halomonas boliviensis (Verlinden et al. 2007). 

Poly[3-hydroxybutyrate] was the first PHA to be produced on an industrial scale, but its brittle nature, its poor mechanical properties and its high production cost limited its application potential. In the early 1990s, Imperial Chemical Industries [ICI] started the production of poly[3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate] [P3HB3HV] under the trade name Biopol . This material showed lower degrees of crystallinity and superior mechanical properties. Later on, the production of Biopol was continued by Monsanto and subsequently followed up by Metabolix. PHAs were originally intended as bio-based alternatives for polyolefins used in plastic containers, films and bottles. Despite the large interest in PHAs, their application remains, however, limited due to their narrow processing window [84, 85]. 

USA, which formed later a joint venture with Archer Daniels Midlands, called Telles, commercializing now PHA products under the brand Mirel. More recently Metabolix announced termination of Telles joint venture and signed a distribution and supply agreements with the Chinese Tianjin GreenBio Materials Co [65],... 

Metabolix and ADM have formed the joint venture Telles to produce and market polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) resins based on corn sugar. The Japanese company Kaneka has just recently announced to launch a 1000 mt production facility for the manufacture of Kaneka PHBH, a copolymer of 3-hydroxybutyrate and 3-hydroxyhexanoate [13]. 

Metabolix and ADM announce first commercial plant tor production of MIrBi... 

Metabolix established a strategic research collaboration with noted oilseed experts at the Donald Dantorth Plant Science Centerto Develop advanced industrial oilseed crops tor bioplastic and bioluel production... 

In 2004, Metabolix formed a strategic alliance with ADM to commercialize PHA using the large fermentation capacity of ADM. Metabolix markets its PHA under the commercial name Mirel, and this turned into new gift card in 2001. In 2006, the company successfully filed an IPO in the USA. It is expected that the joint venture of ADM and Metabolix will soon produce 50,000 tons of Mirel using the new production facility under construction. 

The strain is able to grow on glucose and produce the copolymer PHBV to a density as high as 70-80 gP after over 70 h of growth (Byrom 1992). Shampoo bottles were produced from PHBV (trademarked as Biopol) and were available in supermarkets in Europe. However, owing to economic reasons, the Biopol products did not succeed and the PHBV patents were sold to Monsanto and further to Metabolix. 

For the bacterial production of PHAs by recombinant strains, recombinant E. coli has been commonly used for PHA production thanks to its convenience for genetic manipulation, fast growth, high final-cell density, and ability to utilize inexpensive carbon sources. Metabolix and Jiang Su Nan Xian Co. Ltd employed recombinant E. coli for their PHA production. 

PHA were developed at the beginning as an environmentally friendly bioplastic for packaging purposes. ICI in the 1990s developed PHA with a trade name of Biopol, and was used as a shampoo bottles. Procter and Gambles (P G) developed them with another name Nodax into a series of products ranging from coating sheets to non woven textiles to fibers. Metabolix trade named their PHA as Mirel. All these efforts have been targeted for bioplastic applications. 

Commercial PHBV can be processed into packaging materials such as bottles, jars, and films food service products such as eating utensils, cups, and plates toiletry articles such as combs and razor handles and other products including credit cards, golf tees, and plant pots. An example is Biopol and other PHAs manufactured by Metabolix (Table 1). 

The first commercialisation of Biopol was a trial release in 1992 of the world s first totally biodegradable product , a Wella shampoo in an extrusion moulded bottle (Figure 8.3). However, despite a public willingness to embrace this environmentally-friendly product, high production costs made long term sustainability uneconomic and rights were eventually transferred to Metabolix in 2001 (through Monsanto in 1996). 

Since the homopolymer P(3HB) is a tough and brittle polymer, it has been copolymerized with P(3HV). The copolymer P(3HB-co-3HV) has greater potential as a biomaterial. Its Tg is between —5 and 20 °C, and its Tm is 80-160 °C depending upon the composition. It has been studied for use as a suture material, an orthopedic implant as well as an adhesion prevention film. It was first made commercially available by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) under the trade name Biopol , but now the product has been discontinued. Currently, Tepha (a spinoff from Metabolix Inc.) is actively engaged in developing biotextile products based on PH As. 

Metabolix Company produces injection and thermoforming grades of P(3HB-4HB). Metabolic recently reorganized the product line and developed a rubber grade PHA (Metabolix 2011). 

Metabolix (2011) ADM Begin Mirel Bioplastic Production, Biomass Power and Thermal. http //biomassmagazine.comyarticles/3719/metabolix-adm-begin-mirel-bioplastic-production (last accessed September 2011). 

In 2007, Metabolix and the Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) started their joint venture, Telles, and built a 50,000 tonne plant at Clinton, Iowa, USA to produce Metabolix s PHA commercialised under the Mirel trademark [35]. The plant started its production in 2008. However, due to the limited market, ADM announced the end of its commercial alliance with Metabolix on 8 February 2012. As a result of this decision, Telles dissolved and Mirel production on behalf of Telles stopped [36]. At present, the main companies involved in PHA production on a pilot or (semi)industrial scale include Metabolix (USA), Meredian (USA), Kaneka (Japan), Tianan (China), PHB Industrial/Copersucar (Brazil), Biomatera (Canada), Biomar (Germany), Bio-On (Italy), PolyFerm Canada (Canada), Tianjin and DSM (China), and Tianzhu (China). 

In spite of intensive research efforts and the many potential applications, the world production of PHA is still low according to European Bioplastics, the worldwide capacity production was estimated to be 88,000 tonnes/year in 2010. The leading company is Metabolix, which developed the production of PHA starting from genetically modified cultures. However, as recalled in Section 6.1.4, the 50,000 tonnes/ year production of Mirel stopped in 2012, following the end of the MDA-Metabolix JV (Telles). High production cost remains the primary obstacle to the full market exploitation for this class of natural biodegradable products. 

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