biomass

PlantSwitch is a startup with a mission to replace all petroleum-based single-use plastics with plant-based alternatives. PlantSwitch's proprietary technology upcycles agricultural residues into plant-based resin that can be used to manufacture nearly all types of plastic products. According to the company, their home-compostable resin can fully break down in backyard compost within 12 months, leaving behind no microplastics.

Plasticfri is a Swedish-based startup developing sustainable packaging solutions from agricultural waste, wild plants, non-edible plants, and wood fibers. The company’s innovative approach is setting a new standard by creating a new generation of advanced natural materials beyond plastics. By using waste, residues, and side streams, Plasticfri supports a circular economy and reduces pollution.

Beyond Surface Technologies (BTS), a Swiss supplier of bio-based textile chemicals, is committed to replacing petroleum-based materials in textiles with sustainable alternatives like plant seeds, natural waxes, and microalgae. BTS has developed miDori® bioWick, the first microalgae-based wicking finish for fabrics. This innovative finish achieves 100% biobased status and enhances moisture management by pulling sweat away from the body, promoting rapid evaporation, and providing advanced cooling.

Woodland Biofuels is a company that converts waste biomass to hydrogen, renewable natural gas, methanol, or ethanol. The company uses gasification, which involves converting biomass feedstock into syngas through a high-temperature, oxygen-limited process. The syngas is then subjected to highly efficient catalytic reactions to produce carbon-negative fuels. Woodland’s technology uses waste biomass from low-cost, non-food sources such as forest, industry, agricultural, and municipal waste as input feedstock.

Origin Materials has developed the Origin Platform, which replaces oil as the foundational feedstock for the material economy. Woody biomass is Origin’s feedstock, which comes from agricultural waste, wood waste, and even old cardboard. The Origin platform converts C-6 cellulose into four isolated building-block chemicals in one chemo-catalytic step with almost zero carbon loss. Their catalyst is recovered and doesn’t rely on expensive sugars or fermentation.

Anellotech has developed innovative technologies to recycle mixed plastics, fabrics, and sustainably produce bio-derived chemicals and fuels. Plast-TCat™ focuses on the chemical recycling of plastics, converting large volumes of mixed waste plastics directly into valuable chemicals. This technology offers a novel route to olefins and aromatics from low-value plastic waste feedstocks, capable of processing all major plastics using proprietary catalysts and a fluid bed reactor-regenerator system. It can potentially reduce CO2 emissions by up to 50% compared to monomers from fossil resources.

Bloom Bio Renewables uses aldehyde-assisted fractionation (AAF) to separate cellulose and stabilize lignin polymers and hemicellulose-derived sugars in biomass. Due to this stabilization, lignin and hemicellulose can be valorized more efficiently, allowing Bloom to transform them into various products. These lignin-derived products are antioxidant, antimicrobial, water-soluble, and efficient in low concentrations. They also filter UV rays and function as excellent emulsifiers and dispersants.