Bio-on, an Italian bioplastics firm, has signed an exclusive agreement with Innova Imagen, a company of the Himes group operating in the textile sector in Mexico and United States, to design the first plant in Mexico for the production of 100% natural and biodegradable PHA bioplastic, obtained from residues and agro-industrial by-products.
The agreement gives Innova Imagen an exclusive right, with a duration of 18 months, to carry out the design and set up the investment and commercial initiatives related to the use of Bio-on technologies in Mexico. For Bio-on this is an agreement worth half a million euros, the first of its kind in the central-north American region and confirms the success of the business model based on the licensing of one of the most innovative technologies in the world in the biopolymer industry.
The collaboration will begin in the coming weeks with the use of various raw materials widely available in Mexico, including agave processing waste, in order to implement an engineering study for an industrial plant for the production of bioplastics with various possible scenarios that they combine different raw materials to be exploited and numerous market segments to be satisfied.
The technology developed and demonstrated on an industrial level by Bio-on is a hope for the global problem of plastic contamination and its consequences on human health – says Rogelio Himes , co-founder and CSO of Innova Imagen – and the development of applications for PHA for textiles and fashion has particularly attracted our interest because it has the potential to replace synthetic fibers such as polyesters which are one of the major sources of pollution in our oceans because microfibers come off their clothes when they are washed and coming into contact with our ecosystems they remain there for centuries exactly like they do with plastic”.
The engineering and business plan activities will be conducted in collaboration between the teams of the two companies, while the Units ENG (Engineering) and RAF (Recovery And Fermentation) of Bio-on will work on the development and improvement of synergies and interconnections between the future PHA plant and other production sites available in the geographical area to be identified. The approach to the market will be elaborated taking into account three important trends that are increasingly evident also in the Central-North American markets: the constantly growing consumer demand for eco-sustainable products, the brand-owner strategies and the emerging global regulations which prohibit traditional plastics and push towards natural and biodegradable materials.
“The PHA revolution is already a reality – underlines Marco Astorri , president and CEO of Bio-on – and those who want to adopt radically green technologies and switch to production systems that respect the planet no longer apologize. The Himes group, particularly sensitive to the protection of the environment and worried by bad human habits in the consumption of plastic, has made the right choice and the Bio-on team is looking forward to starting this new collaboration in Central America also to meet the rapidly growing PHAs bioplastic market”.
All bioplastics developed by Bio-on (PHAs or polyhydroxy-alkanoates and PHBs or polyhydroxy-butyrate) are obtained from renewable vegetable and lipid sources without any competition with food chains; in most cases they guarantee the same thermo-mechanical properties of traditional plastics with the advantage of being completely eco-friendly and 100% biodegradable in a natural way. In addition, they offer application possibilities, even completely unpublished, in sectors where traditional plastics are not used.
Source: Bio-on Press Release
Packaging 360 is a comprehensive knowledge sharing ecosystem for the Indian packaging industry. Our services include an online content platform to deliver news, insights and case studies; organising conferences seminars and customised training; Providing Bespoke Project Consulting, Market Research and Intelligence.
