ICI reduces cost, ups capacity for Biopol
23 September 1991 00:00 Source:ICIS Chemical Business
ICI'S FIRST semi-commercial plant for Biopol is set to come onstream in the next month with a capacity of 300 tonne/year to accommodate growing demand for samples of the biodegradable polymer in the US, Europe and especially in Japan, the company told ECN last week.
Business manager for biopolymers, David Barstow, said that by scaling up production at its Billingham site in the UK and making process modifications, the cost of the polyhydroxy butyrate (BHP) and polyhydroxy valerate (BHV) co-polymer has been reduced by 30-40% since its initial launch early last year.
ICI is scheduled to bring onstream a 5000 tonne/year Biopol facility by the mid-1990s at which time Barstow estimates the cost of the polymer will have decreased by another factor of two, equating to a cost of £4-5/kilo ($7-8).
He said the development of Biopol has not been without its problems and describes the commercial progress of the polymer as tracking the development of polyethylene in the 1930s, which at that time similarly represented a new science and a new method of manufacture.
In Europe, two Biopol products are already on the shelves in the form of Wella's shampoo bottle and Castrol's biodegradable oil range. Barstow says both these markets have proved succesful and predicts that up to 10 more companies are likely to announce products in 1992 in Germany, Switzerland and Italy. These are likely to be for the more expensive end of the packaging market for example for cosmetics.
But it is in Japan that Biopol has been creating the greatest stir. The first company to put a product on the market has been Ishizawa with a shampoo and rinse gift set. ICI is known to be supplying samples to between 25 and 50 other Japanese companies but Barstow declined to reveal any more specific details.
In cooperation with ICI the companies are now in the process of testing the suitability of Biopol for uses ranging from disposable office and home items, hygiene and sanitary items, agricultural applications and packaging.
Barstow also points to a lack of know-how in making films and fibres from the polymer, although ICI now has enough of know-how for injection moulding and blow-moulding it.
While the Japanese market appears to be a profitable one for ICI as things stand, the company is, however, acutely aware of a number of Japanese companies which are also working on biotechnological routes to polymers, including Mitsubishi Kasei, Mitsubishi Gas and Chemical and Showa Denko. As Barstow puts it: 'They are closing on us. No-one has got anything on the market yet but we are aware that there is a significant capability in Japan.'
The US meanwhile is also 'looking good' according to ICI. A number of firms are working on the development of products but there is unlikely to be a product launched in the next 12 months. However, Barstow says a few companies are in an advanced stage of development with new hygiene and packaging products.