Summary: Bluepha launched its first Bluepha™ PHA in March; it also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai DODGEN in this Jan.

On 1 March, Beijing Bluepha Microbiology Technology Co., Ltd. (Bluepha) hosted a launching ceremony for its first portfolio of marine degradable biopolymers, Bluepha™ PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates), after over five years of R&D. At the event, Bluepha's founders introduced the product properties, applications, production processes, biorefinery construction, and the revolutionary technology 'Biohybrid'.

Product properties

Bluepha™ PHA are developed into two grades—BP350 and BP330. The former one is a flexible grade with a high comonomer content and the latter is a rigid grade with a low comonomer content. They are delivered in powder and pellet forms. In addition, the direct application of BP330 and BP350, as well as blends in different proportions, can be adapted for different products, and they can be degraded in all typical artificial and natural environments. In 2022, both BP330 and BP350 completed degradation experiments in different environments, including home composting and marine degradation. According to the Belgium-based leading testing institution OWS, the Bluepha™ film samples of both grades were completely degraded in only 10 weeks in the home composting test; and reached a biodegradation percentage of nearly 90% in only 16 weeks in the marine degradation tests, which is close to cellulose.

Green production

In 2022, the company completed the first-phase construction of its first industrial-scale facility, BioFAB1, in Yancheng of Jiangsu for Bluepha™ production. The BioFAB1 finished trial run in Jan 2023, and the second-phase construction (BioFAB2) is moved ahead with the smooth progress seen in the facility so far. It is estimated that the total capacity for Bluepha™ PHA will amount to 25,000 t/a once the facility comes on full stream.

Three key advances

Bluepha highlights three key advances in the basic research and development of Bluepha™ PHA:

• In the study on the rheological curves of different grades of PHA to improve the processability, Bluepha found that by adjusting the temperature and shear rate, the processing efficiency could be improved by 50%, which could be introduced to different production sites and technical improvements.
• Bluepha™ PHA has a special melt memory effect which enables a balance between the temperature and crystallisation rate and speeds up crystallisation by 2 orders of magnitude, making the material 30% tougher and 50% more transparent.
• In mechanical properties which are related to the polymer's aggregate state, Bluepha™ PHA shows differences in crystalline structure at different temperatures: large crystals can provide strength and small ones can provide toughness. Due to this property, the size and distribution of crystals can be controlled so that the strength and toughness can both be increased by 20%, respectively.

 

The "Biohybrid" technology

In Bluepha, the carbon sources for biomanufacturing are divided into three generations:

• The 1st generation is traditional biomass, such as starch and plant oil;
• The 2nd generation is non-food biomass, such as used cooking oil and agricultural straws;
• The 3rd generation is greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and industrial waste gas, which is of the greatest environmental benefit, as it transforms carbon dioxide into PHA feedstock in a direct way, contributing to carbon neutrality, but in terms of technology and engineering, it is extremely hard to achieve. While the 'Biohybrid' technology manages to combine the carbon dioxide from the air and plant oil to synthesize Bluepha™ PHA.

 

At present, the pilot test of Bluepha™ PHA production based on the 'Biohybrid' technology has concluded and the mass production is slated to happen in the coming 24 months. Bluepha also mentioned that it would progressively increase the proportion of carbon atoms in Bluepha™ PHA derived from greenhouse gases, and to increase the proportion from 10% to 20% by 2027, and ultimately to 100%, adding that Biohybrid is a fundamental and prospective technology for almost any bio-manufacturing process for various chemicals and materials.

On 7 Jan., Bluepha signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai DODGEN Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. (Shanghai DODGEN), for co-development of bio-based material industrial technology, with terms including technical exchanges and in-depth cooperation in continuous technological transformation, such as monomer separation and purification, monomer polymerisation and devolatilisation, annealing, polymer recycling.

Shanghai DODGEN has a wide range of advanced technologies, patents and services in purification of bio-based chemicals and production of degradable and high-performance materials; while Bluepha has developed a global synthetic biology R&D platform, and the R&D and production capability for polymer materials. Such tie-up may help accelerate the biosynthesis innovation and industrialisation of the related products.