Origin’s Biomaterials Alchemy: Converting Wood Chips Into Real Plastic
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkobayashisolomon/2024/12/05/origins-biomaterials-alchemy-converting-wood-chips-into-real-plastic/
Origin’s Biomaterials Alchemy: Converting Wood Chips Into Real Plastic
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkobayashisolomon/2024/12/05/origins-biomaterials-alchemy-converting-wood-chips-into-real-plastic/
5 Comments
From the article:
1) Origin Materials (ORGN) has developed a truly revolutionary insight into this hot topic: its scientists have found a way to produce common plastics and other materials using a feedstock of biomaterials like wood chips, cardboard, and sawdust.
…
2) Origin’s management realized that its research into the chemistry of PET enabled it to do something no other firm had been able to do at commercial scale: produce bottle caps made out of PET (OP: better monomaterial recycling with current PET-bottles as most are with HDPE-caps).
OP comment:
Frankly, at first glance producing more plastic materials that are not biodegradable does not seem ideal. We all know how much plastic ends up in our environment. But we still make them and not all plastic products are single-use and require materials that are not biodegradable.
We simultanously have the need to improve current recyclability of materials and also reduce the use of fossil fuels when producing new materials. I don’t think it removes the need for non-plastic options but is complementary.
TLDR: Plastic is bad (ends up in the environment + microplastics) but as long as we use them, we shouldn’t make them out of fossil fuels?
I don’t want to shock you, but cellophan and rayon are made from wood already.
Storing carbon in plastics, it’s better than fossil fuels I guess
Turning a natural biodegradable material into plastic, genius
Origin is developing a new chemical platform, not just a way to make biobased PET, just that it is the lower hanging fruit. It can replace a substantial portion of the platform currently originating from natural gas and oil.
Because the core molecule contains a furan ring, it enables materials that have different and more valuable properties. E.g. PEF has way higher gas and moisture barrier than PET, and may replace the multilayer plastics used in many food applications that today are not recyclable.
But it can be used for Epoxys, Nylon, and many other uses as well, and applications in those are being tested. On top of that, Origins process creates a version of hydrothermal carbon that can be converted to carbon black