New Crop Can Produce PHA Bioplastics

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Yield10 Biosciences is focusing their efforts on commercializing the camelina crop as the next big oilseed. CEO Dr. Oliver Peoples says not only does it offer a cash cover crop with potential for low carbon intensity oil and biofuel, but it also can be developed to be used in bioplastics.

Peoples… “We have a family of natural biopolymers; polymers that are basically polyesters. And these are more broadly known as PHA bioplastics. And what we see there is a tremendous potential to shift the value proposition for camelina to almost double the value of the seed harvest. And there's three products that would be recovered from that seed. There would be some oil for biofuels. The protein meal would basically stay the same for the feed markets. But then we would get this value added product, which is probably has got a value about, you know, 2x feed stock oil. And that's kind of the key to the whole thing is a natural polymer, very useful to replace petroleum plastics, a hundred percent biodegradable. And so you are actually, by doing a winter cover crop making this product, you're actually adding food production, you're adding additional oil production and you're getting this value added product, which I think has got just tremendous potential.”

Learn more at www.Yield10bio.com.