Sustainable technology company Anellotech has been named the 2022 recipient of the PLASTICS’ 2022 Innovation in Bioplastics Award. The announcement, made by Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) on 15 September, came as part of the annual, online #BioplasticsWeek awareness and education event.
Anellotech won the award in recognition of the development of the first PET - polyethylene terephthalate - bottle made entirely from loblolly pine and other biomass feedstocks.
The company’s bio-based PET offers an alternative to conventional, petroleum-based material, potentially lessening the industry’s reliance on petroleum and natural gas as feedstocks.
Anellotech has developed and patented technology called Bio-TCat that converts biomass into benzene, toluene and xylene (including paraxylene, used in making PET), which are chemically identical to their petroleum-based counterparts. The result is a product with 70% lower greenhouse gas emissions than petroleum-based PET.
According to Anellotech, their product will enable the plastics industry to use the same plastic materials used today while producing them from sustainable biomass resources, dramatically improving the sustainability of the plastics industry.
David Sudolsky, CEO of Anellotech, accepted the award on behalf of the employees of Anellotech, “We’re excited to join our Bio-TCat Process development partners, IFP Energies nouvelles and Axens, as well as our strategic partner Suntory, in creating new routes to sustainable plastics,” he said.
“PET is the most recycled plastic and enjoys a lower comparative carbon footprint than metals or glass in most applications,” said Patrick Krieger, Vice President of Sustainability at PLASTICS. “Producing with renewable feedstocks only improves the sustainability of the material and puts the industry a step closer to realising a more circular plastic economy.”
The Bioplastics Innovation award will be officially presented at the PLASTICS Re|Focus Sustainability & Recycling Summit, to be held in Minneapolis in May of 2023.