MOSCOW (MRC) -- Danimer Scientific, a developer and manufacturer of biodegradable materials, plans to invest USD700 million in expanding their Bainbridge manufacturing operations, nearly quadrupling their workforce in Decatur County, said Manufacturing Net.
Danimer Scientific (Bainbridge, Georgia) says it has doubled the scale of its greenfield bioplastics project to 250 million lbs (113,000 metric tons) per year of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and chosen a site in Bainbridge, Georgia. The company plans to complete the first, 125 million lbs/year phase in mid-2023, with the second phase to go online in early 2024. Total project cost is estimated at USD700 million.
The project is currently in the pre-construction and engineering phase, says Danimer, which expects to break ground during the first quarter of 2022. In December 2020, Danimer began the 45 million lb/year expansion of its Winchester, Kentucky, PHA facility, which currently has a capacity of 20 million lbs/year. The company expects to bring the new capacity online in the second quarter of 2022.
PHA is a biodegradable plastic that Danimer produces by fermentation from vegetable oil. On 16 March, Danimer and snack giant Mars Wrigley announced a two-year partnership to develop home-compostable packaging based on Danimer’s Nodax PHA.
As per MRC, Kemira announces exclusive partnership with Danimer Scientific to develop biodegradable coating for paper and board industry. Partners evaluate Danimer Scientific’s NodaxTM PHA as commercial, fully biobased alternative for polyethylene to manufacture recyclable paper and board products from renewable sources. Kemira, a global leader in sustainable chemical solutions for water intensive industries and Danimer Scientific, a leading developer and manufacturer of biodegradable materials, today announced a partnership to develop biodegradable aqueous barrier coatings for more sustainable paper and board products.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
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