A team of researchers from the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI), a U.S. Department of Energy-funded group based at the University of Delaware, has developed a process to turn biomass into p-exylene, a chemical used in the production of PET and other plastics. Initial publication of the research was in the journal ACS Catalysis.

Paul Dauenhauer, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who headed the combined U Delaware/UMass Amherst team, told PlasticsToday that this renewable version of the chemical can mix with the petroleum-based version and the consumer would not be able to tell the difference.

This development fits with the goal of a number of high-volume users of PET packaging for a drop-in sustainable version of PET by the end of this decade. For these users,  a biobased PET (polyethylene terephthalate) material would enable them to reach their stated sustainability goals without the need to modify either their existing package production and filling lines or already existing recycling streams and processes.

The new process is based on a zeolite catalyst specifically designed for this process that transforms glucose from biomass into p-exylene in a three-step reaction in a high-temperature biomass reactor. The process is said to be inexpensive, and according to Dauenhauer, creates the p-exylene chemical with an efficiency yield of 75%, while using most of the biomass feedstock. He also says that further modification of the process can boost the yield efficiency, making it yet more attractive economically.

Dauenhauer termed this a major breakthrough because other methods of producing renewable p-xylene are either more expensive, for example fermentation, or offer inefficiently low yields.

A Packaging Digest article about a new report by GBI Research says that the growing economies of the BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China—will make them the dominant growth agents for flexible PET packaging materials between now and 2020.

The report notes that the Asia-Pacific region, which already made up 40.6% of global PET demand in 2010, should reach 47.8% of the total market by 2020.

China, not surprisingly, is expected to be the global flexible PET packaging market leader by 2010, and the report notes that major new PET production capacity has already been built in China, and that major PET resin producers are still focusing much attention there. Significant capacity additions also are in the forecast for Russia, Brazil, and India.

The GBI Research report says that food, CSD, and beer packages will be the key applications for growth in flexible PET packaging, and will be helped along by demands from major retailers for better product protection and longer shelf life.

There are more stats, plus the market factors behind them, in the Packaging Digest article here, and details on the now-available full GBI Research report “PET Global Market to 2020” can be found here.

SPI is the producer of NPE, the triennial international plastics trade show. Held in Orlando on April 1-5,  NPE2012 was considered a triumphant success by most observers. After being held for 40 years in Chicago, NPE2012 marked the first time the show was held in Orlando. The following statement concerning the death of Visit Orlando President and CEO Gary Sain was issued by SPI President and CEO William “Bill” Carteaux.

It  is with deep sadness that I share the news with the entire plastics industry that Gary Sain, the President and CEO of Visit Orlando (The Orlando Tourism Bureau), passed away unexpectedly on the evening of May 4th at an event in Orlando.

As many of you may recall from SPI events and articles in various trade publications, over the past three years Gary was extremely instrumental in helping to attract SPI to Orlando for NPE2012.  His tireless efforts and commitment to the show and our industry helped us create one of the best NPEs in its history.  Gary took some huge risks to ensure our success that could have cost him not only his job, but also his outstanding reputation. But as I got to know him better along the journey, I realized there was no way he would allow SPI, or himself, to fail in helping create the special event that we did with NPE2012.

Gary Sain (seated left) and Bill Carteaux (seated middle) sign contract that brought NPE to Orlando. Others: OCCC GM Jessie Allen (seated right), NPE2012 Chair John Effmann (back row, left) and SPI Sr. VP Trade Shows Gene Sanders.

Over the past three-plus years, Gary and I developed a close, personal relationship.  He was a true visionary in the trade show and tourism industry and probably had the best marketing mind of anyone that I have known in my professional career.  His ability to look at every problem and obstacle as an opportunity was tremendously refreshing.  Gary truly believed and lived by Orlando’s theme — “ORLANDO MAKES ME SMILE” — as he was always on top of the world with a positive attitude and a smile on his face.

The entire global plastics industry owes Gary Sain a generous amount of appreciation for all that he did for us. Without his help, support and unwavering commitment to our success, NPE2012 would not have been nearly as successful as it was.  For that Mr. Sain, we are all ‘smiling up at you.’

From a personal perspective, I will miss our friendship dearly. On behalf of SPI Sr. Vice President of Trade Shows Gene Sanders and the rest of the SPI staff, I want to express my deepest condolences to Gary’s family, loved ones and the staff at Visit Orlando.

A new article and a new book appeared last week, each focusing critically on plastics ocean litter, and each gaining media coverage that likely will draw more attention to the issue of plastics in the seas. Unsurprisingly, neither the article nor the book mention any of the projects aimed at the marine litter issue by the plastics industry through its major trade associations.

Published online at Geophysical Research Letters, the article titled “The effect of wind mixing on the vertical distribution of buoyant plastic debris” describes how when ocean water was sampled at depths of five and ten meters below the surface, significant amounts of plastic debris, most of it micro-sized, was found. Within days the story was published on major and minor news websites and blogs to say previous estimates of the problem were ‘vastly’ underestimated.

Most plastics found in the oceans are micro-particles smaller than 10 mm.

The authors wrote that they collected, on average, 2.5 times more debris in the layers of water below the surface layer (the top 9.8 inches) than was found in the surface layer. The wind and currents are factors, such that in high winds the volume of trash could be underestimated by a factor of as much as 27. Plastic debris was found at depths of 20 to 25 meters using specially designed nets that open and close at the desired depth.

The newly published book Garbology by Edward Humes takes on a broader subject — the overall generation of trash. The first 96 pages of the 262-page volume are given to the increase in solid waste in the USA over the last century, particularly since World War Two, and explores the emergence of landfills as a primary means of disposal.

The 31 pages following the discussion of solid waste are spent describing the extent of ocean litter, specifically the plastic part, and describing some of the research being done on marine waste and the scientists involved. They mostly agree that the research is still in the early stages, and there is much that needs to be learned.

The United Nations estimates that at least 7 million tons of trash ends up in the oceans every year, of which 5.6 million tons are plastics. However, there are no islands of trash as some reports lead us to believe. Rather, the distribution of the litter is widespread. Researchers say that the further they take their ships, the more they find plastics, mostly micro-particles smaller than 10 millimeters, and they are abundant. It is, they say, like sailing through a soup or chowder.

In Garbology, Humes makes clear that the research will continue, as the article mentioned above proves, and that it will take years — no one knows how many — to gain a reasonably full understanding of the problem and its dimensions. A major failing of the book, in my opinion, is a near absence of recommendations for resolving this issue. The epilogue offers five tips for individuals, all of which you have probably read in consumer magazines, but there is nothing approaching a corrective scheme or strategy. Perhaps there isn’t yet sufficient understanding of how to go about that daunting task.

Nowhere in either the article or the book is there mention made of any of the work done by the plastic industry toward finding solutions. You would not know the industry has been actively championing recycling for decades; keep plastics out of both landfills and the oceans by using them again. More recently, SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association joined plastics industry representatives from around the world in Dubai on November 16-17, 2011 to create an action plan of solutions to marine litter.

The plan describes specific actions to be taken and that progress will be reported during 2012. Approximately 100 projects to be carried out in 32 countries have been identified, and those are in addition to the global activities supported in common by all signatories to the agreement.

The Operation Clean Sweep program aimed at zero pellet loss in plastics handling facilities that SPI launched in 1992 was a major step toward comprehensive marine litter solutions. Effective among SPI member companies and others, OCS currently is expanding in Canada and other countries outside North America.

Within the “Declaration for Solutions on Marine Litter” signed by 54 plastics industry organizations at Dubai, the plastics industry created a partnership with The Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP), an advisory body to the United Nations on the scientific aspects of marine environmental protection. SPI’s CEO Bill Carteaux said at the time, “We are proud to join the GESAMP initiative as one part of our industry’s effort to better understand and prevent marine litter.”

Activities of the global plastics industry regarding marine litter will be available to the public on a special website, which has been launched in English with other languages to be added.

Many of the 1,933 exhibitors at NPE2012 were showing something related to sustainability, especially the materials suppliers. Though you tried your best to cover it all, and had the tired legs to prove it, most likely you didn’t see all the sustainable materials innovations. Here comes a second chance.

Ann R. Thryft, senior technical editor for materials & assembly at Design News, has thoughtfully created a slideshow showcasing some of the materials innovations you may have missed in Orlando. She did all the heavy lifting, so you need only a few minutes to review it.

Click here for a quick overview of the latest in sustainable materials technology, and thank you, Ms. Thryft.