The British plan for the bioeconomy takes a step forward. Biome Bioplastics CEO, Paul Mines, has been appointed to the management board of the Lignocellulosic Biorefinery Network (LBNet), a government-funded body tasked with fostering cross-disciplinary communities in the industrial biotechnology sector. LBnet is an active community of industrial practitioners and leading academics generating economic value through novel chemical, material and fuel processes that use lignocellulosic biomass as an alternative to petroleum-derived inputs.
With the production of biofuels and bio-based chemicals increasing, lignocellulosic technologies are an important solution for enabling the use of non-food crops for these processes and developing efficient and sustainable ways of satisfying the world’s chemical and material needs.
“This is great recognition of Biome Bioplastics’ role as a leading industry player”, said Paul Mines. “Industrial biotechnology is an area full of promise, but also with real challenges to reach exploitation at commercial scale. Collaboration of this kind is fundamental in ensuring that the UK remains a world leader this field”.
The LBNet is one of 13 collaborative networks set up by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to boost interaction between academia and industry, and promote the translation of that research into benefits for the UK.
Biome Bioplastics is committed to industrial biotechnology as a means of developing high performance biomaterials than can compete with, and ultimately replace, oil-based polymers, and is pioneering ground-breaking research and development work in this field.
Last week, Biome Bioplastics and the University of Warwick announced research results that demonstrate the feasibility of extracting organic chemicals from lignin for the manufacture of bioplastics. The results stem from a one-year feasibility study, funded by the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 