Dow has entered into a supply agreement with New Energy Blue in North America under which New Energy Blue will produce and bio-based ethylene feedstock for Dow resins.
It is the first agreement in North America that will see the production of renewably-sourced resins from corn residues and Dow’s first agreement in North America to utilise agriculture residues for plastic production. The partnership also underscores the direction Dow aims to move by building material ecosystems that value, source, and transform waste into circular products.
"We are unlocking the value of agriculture residues in this new partnership with New Energy Blue," said Karen S. Carter, Dow President of Packaging & Specialty Products. "By committing to purchase their bio-based ethylene, we are helping to enable innovations in waste recycling, meeting demands for bio-based plastics from customers, and strengthening an ecosystem for diverse and renewable solutions."
The project will involve the design and construction of a new facility in Mason City, Iowa, that will be able to process 275KT of corn stover - the leaves and stalks remaining after harvesting the corn - per year. The new facility, called New Energy Freedom, will convert this into commercial quantities of second-generation ethanol and clean lignin. Close to half of the ethanol will be turned into bio-ethylene and used by Dow to create new, biobased plastic materials.
Dow is contributing to the development of this initial facility and the next four future New Energy Blue projects, supporting New Energy Blue's ability to scale its production and support farmers by providing a reliable market for agricultural residues.
The five projects are calculated to displace over one million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions every year and help redefine ‘how we source raw materials for our products, allowing us to expand to include renewable feedstocks’, said Manav Lahoti, Dow global sustainability director -Olefins, Aromatics & Alternatives. "We're excited by the possibility for agriculture-based plastics to help our company achieve both our Transform the Waste goal and our Net Zero CO2 goal.
By utilising corn stover as a carbon source, the carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere as the stover decomposes is instead reused. In addition, the new Iowa processing facility would source corn stover directly from local farmers every year. Because U.S. farmers' grain yield per acre is among the world's highest, their stover density is correspondingly high. By selling their excess stover for biomass refining, they could reap an excellent second income from the same crop while using farming practices that increase carbon retention in the soil.
As Dow intends to mix agriculture-based ethylene into its existing manufacturing process, ISCC certification will be sought in order to provide is proof of compliance with ISCC requirements on sustainable biomass production, traceability of origin and documentation of greenhouse gas saving potential compared to fossil fuels. ISCC Plus's chain of custody certification would allow Dow's customers to account for bio-based materials in their supply chains.
"We're excited to be working with Dow to find solutions that create bio-based plastics from renewable resources," said Thomas Corle, CEO of New Energy Blue. "Together, we're building a future not only in the farm fields of Iowa using corn stover, but across America and around the world using a variety of biomass from grain straws to tall perennial grasses—wherever there's an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions from farming, support farmers in rural communities, and enable the production of the sustainable, low-carbon plastics used in everyday life."
