Periodic Reporting for period 2 - B4PNOW (B4P No-Waste Polymers: Architected for performance, loaded with circularity)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-12-01 bis 2022-11-30
B4Plastics (B4P) is a polymer architecture company, catalysing the introduction of novel bio-materials, and growing them from niche to dominant bulk applications.
In 2020, the world exceeded the average production of 1 Mio ton of plastic every day,
over 50% of which is for single-use purposes-utilized for just a few moments, but remaining on the planet for at least several hundreds of years. Plastics are getting under our skin. Literally. B4P’s Polymer design offers a solution as it allows for circularity “on demand”: if the afterlife allows it, we design it to be recycled. On the other hand, if the after-life situation demands it (if it will end up as pollution), we design it to completely degrade, triggered by its specific end-of-life situation.
With the B4PNOW Project, B4P moved its technology from TRL 6 to 8, and launch two first proprietary polymer families:
• FortePlastics combines unprecedented material strength with full degradability
• TriggerPlastics has unique controllable (up to the world’s fastest) degradability
B4P has made a large step in moving from R&D company / developer to commercial supplier.
Together with our customers and the many development partners around B4PLASTICS, the required balance between strength and biodegradability is investigated and constantly optimized for the respective application. The customer feedback so far has been very positive.
Given the very versatile nature of the TriggerPlastics polymer family (condensation backbones with peptide/ester/acetal/urethane/carbonate (mixes of) linkages), it can meanwhile be segmented in many different application groups, tailored specifically to its end applications functionality during use and desired biodegradability depending on chosen end-of life. As the TriggerPlastics family evolved, we have started branding one of the segments with specific elastomeric properties under its own brandname Rubran (RubberPlastics).
Applications developed for FortePlastics have expanded beyond original expectation because of the extra lead generation that is installed and activated in B4Plastics since 2022. In other words: the pipeline is filling towards upscaling of samples for a diverse spectrum of potential applications, eventually leading to supply agreements: leading brand owners that can benefit from FortePlastics materials in their products have been listed and contacted, and this will answer to a need in the market to combine strength with degradability.
In 2020, the world exceeded the average production of 1 Mio ton of plastic every day,
over 50% of which is for single-use purposes-utilized for just a few moments, but remaining on the planet for at least several hundreds of years. Plastics are getting under our skin. Literally. B4P’s Polymer design offers a solution as it allows for circularity “on demand”: if the afterlife allows it, we design it to be recycled. On the other hand, if the after-life situation demands it (if it will end up as pollution), we design it to completely degrade, triggered by its specific end-of-life situation.
With the B4PNOW Project, B4P moved its technology from TRL 6 to 8, and launch two first proprietary polymer families:
• FortePlastics combines unprecedented material strength with full degradability
• TriggerPlastics has unique controllable (up to the world’s fastest) degradability
B4P has made a large step in moving from R&D company / developer to commercial supplier.
Together with our customers and the many development partners around B4PLASTICS, the required balance between strength and biodegradability is investigated and constantly optimized for the respective application. The customer feedback so far has been very positive.
Given the very versatile nature of the TriggerPlastics polymer family (condensation backbones with peptide/ester/acetal/urethane/carbonate (mixes of) linkages), it can meanwhile be segmented in many different application groups, tailored specifically to its end applications functionality during use and desired biodegradability depending on chosen end-of life. As the TriggerPlastics family evolved, we have started branding one of the segments with specific elastomeric properties under its own brandname Rubran (RubberPlastics).
Applications developed for FortePlastics have expanded beyond original expectation because of the extra lead generation that is installed and activated in B4Plastics since 2022. In other words: the pipeline is filling towards upscaling of samples for a diverse spectrum of potential applications, eventually leading to supply agreements: leading brand owners that can benefit from FortePlastics materials in their products have been listed and contacted, and this will answer to a need in the market to combine strength with degradability.
In the past year we have been working on testing our applications with brand owners, scaling our facilities, and our organization in general. This has resulted in the following achievements so far:
• Investment Round A successfully closed with global aerosol expert Lindal Group and the EIC Fund (European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA)). An important milestone in the growth of our scale-up!
• New personnel recruited, such as an internal HR advisor, an R&D program manager and a Production / Purchase Manager
• Office space expanded
• Production equipment being commissioned, expected to start operations in 2023
• Long list of leading applications and brand owners that we did tests with for FortePlastics and TriggerPlastics
• New product segment of degradable elastomers (RubberPlastics) has started sample campaigns to the market in the second quarter of 2022.
• Investment Round A successfully closed with global aerosol expert Lindal Group and the EIC Fund (European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA)). An important milestone in the growth of our scale-up!
• New personnel recruited, such as an internal HR advisor, an R&D program manager and a Production / Purchase Manager
• Office space expanded
• Production equipment being commissioned, expected to start operations in 2023
• Long list of leading applications and brand owners that we did tests with for FortePlastics and TriggerPlastics
• New product segment of degradable elastomers (RubberPlastics) has started sample campaigns to the market in the second quarter of 2022.
B4P Polymers have beaten world records in strength versus degradation: despite being completely biodegradable in a controlled way ranging from years to even days, the biopolymers are designed for the highest mechanical strength, outcompeting fossil materials like traditional polyesters and polyamides. That way, B4P Polymers, completely aligned with the European Green Deal, are becoming game-changers in the plastic industry with an unprecedented balance in cost, performance, and ecology. As the first bioplastics company worldwide, B4PLASTICS is daily hunting for the microbes that are responsible for the biodegradation of its own novel bioplastics grades in different habitats. It gives the company a trendsetting character that moves the borderlines of biodegradation insights and value for society. This allows B4P to prevent 8 million tons of plastic waste that results in 1,5 million ton of micro-plastics leaking into the ocean, yearly.
This is precisely why B4Plastics can now call itself a true Cleantech Flanders - Cleantech Hero Materials for a year.
This is precisely why B4Plastics can now call itself a true Cleantech Flanders - Cleantech Hero Materials for a year.