Danimer Scientific, Inc. operates as a performance polymer company.
The company is specializing in bioplastic replacements for traditional petroleum-based plastics. Applications for biopolymers include additives, aqueous coatings, fibers, filaments, films, thermoforming, and injection-molded articles. The company brings together innovative technologies to deliver biodegradable bioplastic materials to global consumer product companies. The company is the only commercial company in the bioplastic...
Danimer Scientific, Inc. operates as a performance polymer company.
The company is specializing in bioplastic replacements for traditional petroleum-based plastics. Applications for biopolymers include additives, aqueous coatings, fibers, filaments, films, thermoforming, and injection-molded articles. The company brings together innovative technologies to deliver biodegradable bioplastic materials to global consumer product companies. The company is the only commercial company in the bioplastics market to combine the production of a base polymer along with the reactive extrusion capacity in order to give customers a ‘drop-in’ replacement for a wide variety of petroleum-based plastics.
The company has core competencies in polymer formulation and application development, fermentation process engineering, thermocatalysis, chemical engineering and polymer science. In addition, the company has created an extensive intellectual property portfolio to protect the company’s innovations that together with the company’s technology, serves as a valuable foundation for the company’s business and for future industry collaborations. The company primarily markets its products to consumer packaging brand owners, converters and manufacturers in the plastics industry seeking to address environmental, public health, renewability, composting and biodegradability concerns arising from customer perceptions and expectations, government regulations, or other reasons.
The company’s fermentation process uses sustainably-sourced canola oil. The company’s proprietary extraction and extrusion processes are cost competitive and leave almost no carbon footprint. The company’s customized formulations enable the company to team up with other makers of biobased products to create an even wider range of goods. The company anticipates its scalable production capacity and modular manufacturing model will soon enable the company to serve an increasingly large customer base.
The company’s combined portfolio of over 480 issued patents and numerous additional pending patent applications in countries around the world that are strategic to the company’s business and cover a range of manufacturing processes and biopolymer formulations.
Technologies
PHA-based Resins: Polyhydroxyalkanoate (‘PHA’) is a naturally occurring bioplastic that effectively biodegrades in both anaerobic environments, such as a waste treatment facility, and aerobic environments, such as industrial compost, home compost, soil, fresh water or seawater. PHA will degrade in any environment in which microbes or fungi are present, without the presence of additional heat or moisture. This ease of degradation, as compared with industrial composting facilities, creates numerous options for companies that use plastics as part of their business.
The company produces PHA in a fermentation process in which bacteria consume vegetable oil and produce PHA within their cell membranes as energy reserves. The company harvests the PHA from the bacteria, then purify and filter the bioplastic before forming the non-formulated (‘neat’) PHA into pellets, which the company combines with other inputs using a reactive extrusion process to manufacture formulated finished products with a diverse array of properties. The company sells this neat PHA under its proprietary Nodax brand name.
PHAs are also desirable as a biodegradable replacement for petroleum-based plastics since converters (manufacturers that turn plastic resin into finished products) do not have to purchase new equipment to switch to the company’s material. Utilizing PHA as a base resin significantly expands the number of potential applications for bioplastics in the industry.
PLA-based Resins: Polylactic acid (‘PLA’) is made from dextrose derived from corn, sugar beets and sugar cane, among other sources. It is ‘industrially compostable’ as per ASTM D6400 standards, which require a plastic to aerobically compost in a municipal industrial facility within 180 days. PLA requires additional heat and moisture to begin degrading by hydrolysis, which is why it is certified for industrial composting only.
Since 2004, the company has been producing proprietary plastics using PLA as a base resin. The company purchases neat PLA and formulate it into bioplastic applications by leveraging the expertise of the company’s chemists and its proprietary reactive extrusion process. The company’s formulated PLA-based products allow many companies to use renewable and compostable plastics to meet their customers’ growing sustainability needs. The company is a pioneer in bioplastics technology, demonstrated by early successes, such as creating a bioplastic suitable for coating disposable paper cups to withstand the temperatures of hot liquids, such as coffee. The company has two primary manufacturing platforms: reactive extrusion and polymer synthesis. In reactive extrusion, new polymers are made by combining PLA with other plant-based materials, minerals, or other inputs to be able to meet the needs of customers that cannot use non-formulated neat PLA. In polymer synthesis, new proprietary polymers are made in reactors (vertical tanks with ability to control pressure, heat, agitation, pH, etc.) and then pelletized. The company’s PLA-based biopolymers are formulated to meet the compostability requirements for ASTM International and European (EN) standards.
Rinnovo: Following the 2021 acquisition of Novomer, Inc. (incorporated into the company’s business as Danimer Catalytic Technologies), the company also has the technology to produce a type of PHA, specifically poly(3-hydroxypropionate) (‘p3HP’), through a proprietary thermal catalytic conversion process at a lower cost than the company’s fermentation process. The company also refers to p3HP by its brand name, Rinnovo. This technology will enhance the strength of product applications the company develops due to the complementary nature of Rinnovo when combined with Nodax and enable the company to increase the expected overall volume of finished product the company will be able to deliver, all while significantly lowering the company’s production costs and capital expenditure per pound produced.
The company’s Nodax-based biopolymers offer a broad range of properties and processing options and can address a large portion of the opportunities for environmentally attractive yet functionally equivalent alternatives to conventional petroleum-based plastics.
Business Strategy
The company is developing and commercializing biopolymers in a range of applications, including films, straws, cutlery and containers.
The company’s strategy consists of six mutually supporting elements: expand capacity to achieve scale; lead with innovation to address a broad range of customer needs; grow customer partnerships and product volume commitments; secure cost-effective inputs; attain favorable unit economics to enhance margins; and enhance team capabilities to support growth.
Products and Services
The company offers the following products and services.
PHA-based Resins: The company sells Nodax-based resins for use in a wide variety of plastic applications including films, straws, cutlery and food containers. They are 100% bio-based and renewably sourced.
Nodax has achieved six TUV AUSTRIA certifications: OK compost INDUSTRIAL, OK compost Home, OK biodegradable SOIL, OK biodegradable Water, OK biodegradable MARINE, and OK biobased. The company’s Nodax-based biopolymers are formulated to meet the biodegradability requirements for ASTM International and European (EN) standards.
Nodax is also approved for food contact by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (‘FDA’) and other authorities.
PLA-based Resins: PLA in neat form has limited functionality, but when the company combines PLA with other plant-based chemicals and minerals through the company’s reactive extrusion process, the company can improve PLA-based products’ processability, impact strength, heat tolerance and numerous other attributes to meet customer specifications for a wide range of applications to support petroleum-based plastic replacement. The company’s ability to formulate PLA in this manner enables the company to acquire customers that neat PLA producers cannot.
Research and Development: The company has a number of PHA R&D contracts with global consumer products companies, including Bacardi and Mars Wrigley. The company collaborated with the R&D staff of each customer on products that are tailored for each customer’s specific applications.
Tolling: The company contracts with customers to use its existing production facilities and expertise to help customers meet complex raw material opportunities. In 2015, the company started making its production facilities and expertise available to tolling customers. There are many companies that toll manufacture in the U.S. for products that are large volumes at low prices.
Customers and Product Applications
The company is well-positioned to capture market share with the company’s streamlined and flexible development process. The company possesses research and development capabilities for new products. A significant portion of the company’s revenues have been generated from the sale of materials utilized in single-use food service articles. While the company expects single-use food service articles to remain a significant component of the company’s revenue, the company continues to develop new products for many different applications; therefore, the company’s client base is changing along with the company’s product mix.
In 2023, the company had three customers that each individually accounted for more than 10% of revenue and collectively represented 65% of total revenue.
PHA Products: The company has successfully executed multiple contracts for the development and production of Nodax-based resins. Some of the company’s customers and their product applications using PHA-based resins are below:
PepsiCo — The company is party to a joint development agreement with PepsiCo, Inc. that provides for the development of the company’s biodegradable film resins to meet the packaging requirements of PepsiCo’s global food and beverage business, including compostable films to be used in Frito Lay chip bags.
Mars Wrigley — The company and Mars, Incorporated (‘Mars Wrigley’) are party to an extensive R&D contract to work on films for product packaging applications. The company understands that Mars Wrigley expects to launch a home-compostable packaging for their Skittles brand in 2024.
Bacardi — In October 2020, the company and Bacardi Limited entered into an agreement with the goal to eliminate 3,000 annual tons of petrochemical plastic produced by Bacardi. The 100% biodegradable bottle under development could replace 80 million plastic bottles per year, as Bacardi's goal is to be petrochemical plastic free by 2030.
Genpak — In November 2019, the company and Genpak, LLC entered into a multi-year agreement under which the company will deliver biodegradable resins that Genpak will use exclusively for the manufacture of its new GenZero line of food packaging products. Genpak’s line of foodservice items are designed for a wide range of applications, including to-go hinged food containers, plates, bowls, and platters, serving trays and two-piece food containers.
WinCup — In September 2019, WinCup Plastics, Inc., a leading manufacturer of disposable foodservice to-go-ware, announced the launching of phade, a new line of straws, stirrers and cups made from Nodax-based resins. Wincup continues to purchase the company’s PHA resin for its phade brand of products.
UrthPact — Urthpact, LLC, a long-time customer, purchases the company’s Nodax-based resins for straws and industrially compostable resins for use in single serve coffee pods, with plans to transition the coffee pods to Nodax-based home compostable resin.
Eagle Beverage and Accessory Products (‘Eagle Beverage’) — Eagle Beverage, a leading manufacturer of drinking straws, purchases the company’s Nodax-based resins for use in making straws that they sell to their customers, which include large brands within the food and beverage industry.
Columbia Packaging Group (‘CPG’) — In November 2019, CPG, a large producer of flexible films signed a supply agreement for the purchase of the company’s PHA film resins and later expanded their purchases to include the company’s PHA-based straw resins.
PLA Products: Some of the company’s customers’ product applications using PLA-based resins are below:
Drinking cups that are coated with the company’s compostable extrusion coating resin.
Shrink wrap films for various food packaging.
Cutlery.
Suppliers
The company buys PLA from NatureWorks LLC and Total Corbion, PBS from PTT MCC Biochem Co., Ltd and PBAT from BASF Corporation.
Intellectual Property
The company holds a combination of over 480 patents and pending patent applications worldwide in more than 20 countries. The company’s extensive patent portfolio covers the fundamental biotechnology needed to produce the company’s PHA biopolymers as well as biopolymer compositions, processes, derived products, and applications. The company’s patents also include those associated with Danimer Catalytic Technologies, including catalyst syntheses, catalyst carbonylation, polymerization, and thermolysis and other related areas.
The company also holds patents addressing the conversion of PHA into articles, such as diapers, feminine hygiene products, films, fibers, and molded articles, which protect the company’s technology all the way to the ‘store shelf’. In addition, the company holds patents and/or applications in areas as diverse as production systems, additives for bioplastics and unique specialty applications such as the use of materials in the oil and gas industry.
The terms of such patents are set to expire at various times between 2024 and 2042, and any patents resulting from such pending patent applications are expected to have a duration that will expire between 2036 and 2043.
Government Regulation
Nodax has been cleared for use in food-contact applications by the FDA and is also contained on positive lists for food-contact in the European Union and Japan.
History
Danimer Scientific, Inc. was founded in 2004. The company was incorporated in Delaware in 2019.
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