Interesting that sugar cane has such potential in the development of biopolymers and definitely a big win for Brazil's economy. Too bad there wasn't some secret source of sugar cane that would land such a plant (and jobs) on US soil.
You have a point, Beth. It would be good to see this type of development in the United States. If not sugar cane, there are certainly other crops that could be productive. At any rate, it's a shame this kind of cool project isn't getting done in Dow's home state of Michigan. They could use the boost.
There are plenty of big bioplastics production operations in the US: DuPont, Tate & Lyle, ADM, and Metabolix for example. Corn is the feedstock of choice in the USA because of its abundance and government support. Future bioreactors in the USA are likely to use waste biomass as the feedstock. Economics to be determined.
Bioreactors using waste biomass as the feedstock--we've come full circle! And of course, with every major plant like this comes all the hoopla surrounding environmental impact, etc. Glad to hear, though, that the USA is #1 in bioplastic production. That's encouraging.
Number one in production, but number two in consumption. That's because Europe is more advanced in requiring materials that help reduce carbon footprint. Cereplast operates a substantial bioplastic compounding plant in Indiana, but most of its sales are in Italy.
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
The government wants to study your brain, and DARPA wants to use similar information to give robots true autonomy beyond any artificial intelligence developed to date. Sound like science fiction? It's not.
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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