Japanese materials company Mitsui Chemicals introduced a new production concept for bio-polypropylene (PP) during the G20 ministerial meeting on energy transitions and global environment for sustainable growth in Osaka last week.
The new production method, currently considered for commercialisation, is based on various types of biomass, mainly derived from non-edible plants, Mitsui said in a statement.
The biomass is fermented to produce isopropanol (IPA), which is then dehydrated to obtain propylene in a “first-of-its-kind” IPA method.
Mitsui stated that its process could prove to be more cost-effective compared to other biomass production approaches studied by other companies.
Polypropylene has a wide range of applications, including automotive parts, medical products, home appliances as well as housing and food products.
According to Mitsui, the polymer accounts for more than 20% of the plastic produced in Japan.
Due to technical difficulties, the production of polypropylene from biomass has to date not been established at the industrial level, Mitsui added.