The realization of a circular bioeconomy is highly dependent on increasing the conversion efficiencies of renewable feedstocks into valuable chemicals in biorefineries. This is especially true for bioplastic materials, which have massive potential to reimagine how we package food and products, develop biomedical applications, and produce textiles. As researchers endeavor to create sustainable, real-world solutions, the industry faces the challenge of ensuring that large-scale operations are as profitable as petroleum-based systems, while remaining environmentally sustainable, making conversion efficiency crucial for achieving these goals.
A key hurdle for biomass plastic manufacturing is ensuring that the lifecycle environmental impact of bioplastic materials is lower than that of conventional plastics. Due to the environmental burdens of farming feedstock crops, agricultural inputs must be factored into the calculations, making conversion efficiency a key to maximizing output potential, which is challenged by the heterogeneity of feedstock materials, energy-intensive pretreatment processes, and inefficient product purification/recovery pipelines.
To overcome these challenges, researchers focus on approaches that increase biomass accumulation while limiting agricultural inputs, develop genetically engineered feedstocks modified to increase conversion efficiency, and optimize conversion methods used to process the feedstocks. With CAS tools, you can achieve these transformative goals faster than ever before. These solutions are equipped with diverse resources that aid in developing innovative bioplastic materials by accelerating literature reviews, ensuring intellectual property protection, and constructing customized digital transformation frameworks.
Streamline your literature search on promising biomass feedstocks
As businesses within the industry explore renewable biomass plastics, staying abreast of the ever-changing body of literature is imperative. Increasing the conversion efficiency of biomass into useful bioplastic monomers requires a two-pronged approach—maximizing the conversion potential of the feedstock itself and optimizing biorefinery processes responsible for the conversion, requiring researchers to be well-versed in multiple fields of study to drive success.
Biorefineries employ diverse feedstocks to manufacture bioplastic polymers, emphasizing the use of renewable biomass. With CAS SciFinder® you can stay up to date on publication trends and gather critical insights on developing technologies. Streamline your research and identify the most suitable feedstocks for your specific application by simplifying your literature review process with CAS SciFinder—hastening the transition from idea to innovation.
Current feedstocks are classified into four generations—each distinguished by its biological origin and use.
Journal and patent publication trends over the last 25 years reveal the increasing interest in bioplastic feedstocks. The push for sustainable plastic solutions and an upsurge in corporate and venture capital funding is paving the way for a bioplastic market set to reach 29 billion by 2028. With so much opportunity in a rapidly growing field it is essential that researchers have up-to-date access to global literature to enable them to stay at the forefront of innovation.
The sophisticated features and filtering options CAS SciFinder provides allow you to narrow your search by concept to identify the most pertinent publications to advance your bioplastics research. This enables you to swiftly discover the insights necessary for your innovative endeavors. By adopting this streamlined strategy, you can expedite your progress in creating environmentally friendly bioplastic materials and position yourself as a leader in the closed-loop production of biomass plastic.
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Develop your next cutting-edge biorefinery conversion pipeline
Even with the appropriate feedstock selected, identifying and developing biorefinement strategies that optimally convert biomass into useful chemicals is crucial. Due to the variability of feedstock biomass, maximizing conversion efficiency is highly dependent on using the correct refinement methods and reactions. Currently, there are numerous biochemical and thermochemical processes employed for the conversion of feedstock biomass into bioplastic material monomers, including:
Often, a combination of processes is required for optimum conversion of biomass into bioplastic materials, making it crucial to understand the interplay between them.
The development of highly efficient conversion pipelines requires rigorous research and testing encompassing more than just choosing the right feedstock and conversion process; it requires comprehension of how these processes can be linked to transform raw biomass into functional bioplastic materials.
CAS SciFinder provides an abundance of tools to accelerate your quest for optimization of biomass conversion efficiency. Explore the structural properties and potential applications of different bioplastic monomers by directly accessing CAS REGISTRY®, our comprehensive substance collection, in the CAS SciFinder interface.
Additionally, you can discover new insights into the various conversion processes for biomass components like dextrose with the CAS reactions collection. CAS SciFinder provides a collection of powerful filters that refine your reaction search by concepts such as yield, number of reaction steps, and non-participating functional groups. This focused strategy lets you pinpoint the optimal conversion scheme for your next innovative bioplastic materials solution.
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Secure your novel bioplastic production breakthrough
The global bioplastic and biopolymer market is expected to reach 27.3 billion by 2027, with a cumulative annual growth rate of 18.9%. The growing demand for alternative and sustainable bioplastic materials can be seen worldwide, with global leaders increasing their commitments to and investments in bioplastic production facilities. This includes a $700 million investment by Danimer Scientific in their Georgia bioplastics plant that produces a variety of biopolymers, as well as Brasken, which invested $87 million to increase the production of bio-based ethylene at its Brazil facility.
In this ever-evolving landscape, CAS STNext® is a crucial resource for researchers aiming to safeguard their innovations. It offers detailed views into the intellectual property (IP) landscape surrounding sustainable bioplastic material production and biorefinery processes and provides access to a wealth of patent and innovation information with the ability to configure customized alerts. Stay informed about recently granted patents in your sector with a tool that simplifies navigating the intricacies of IP search. Leverage these capabilities to ensure you protect the proprietary rights of your novel biorefinement processes and applications for your bioplastic products.
Optimize biomass conversion efficacy with AI and digital solutions
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape research, adopting a thorough digital transformation strategy is becoming a crucial step to staying competitive. Our CAS Custom ServicesSM team is equipped to assist you in developing innovative AI workflows that not only advance feedstock development and biorefinery processes but also speed up innovation and reduce R&D expenses.
With the bioplastic materials market poised for massive growth in the coming years, there is ample opportunity for AI to play a central role. Bioplastics production requires an interdisciplinary approach spanning a complex network of research sectors, including agriculture, biomass processing, and biorefinery pipelines. AI has already been successfully deployed across these sectors, demonstrating its utility in optimizing conversion efficiencies. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been used to decipher the lignocellulose composition of rice straw feedstocks, while the Internet of Things coupled with AI has been deployed to manage the production of algal biomass. Even biorefinery workflows have been optimized using AI and machine learning (ML).
Leveraging their expertise in digital knowledge management, our CAS Custom Services team can guide you in designing efficient pipelines for bioplastic materials research objectives. This includes supporting efforts to merge your data with the CAS Content CollectionTM and external datasets, alongside customized assistance using advanced digital technologies such as AI, ANNs, and ML.
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Improve biomass conversion efficiency and develop the bioplastic materials of tomorrow
Despite the numerous hurdles in enhancing the conversion efficiency of biomass feedstocks, there is an abundance of opportunity for researchers in this sector to develop innovative breakthroughs. Supercharge your bioplastic R&D efforts with CAS support to streamline your literature and chemical data analysis, safeguard your intellectual property, and guide your digital transformation initiatives. Incorporate CAS tools into your research workflow today to overcome the challenge of biomass conversion optimization and fast-track your advanced bioplastic technologies of the future.