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On October 27, 2014, President Obama announced new plans to strengthen the manufacturing sector. One of the listed plans involved the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Agriculture, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) coming together to invest in advanced materials, advanced sensors, and digital manufacturing. These three areas were determined to be critical to U.S. competitiveness and include biobased materials in the advanced materials category. Over $300 million is...

BRAG member Micromidas, along with the Michigan Molecular Institute and Michigan Sugar Company, is working on a $150,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from DOE with the goal of developing a process to convert sugar beet waste into useful chemicals. After sugar has been extracted from sugar beets, the remaining residue still contains a significant amount of sugars that can be converted into biobased PET. The development of biobased packaging materials, such as those...

On September 25, 2014, Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG®) member Malama Composites, Inc. (Malama) announced that its biobased rigid urethane foams won the PortTech Los Angeles Entrepreneur Pitch Competition "Most Innovative Technology" Award while competing against almost 100 other clean technology companies. The foams are part of Malama's groundbreaking, non-toxic, biobased product line which is "cost and performance competitive with petroleum-based...

On June 30, 2014, Rayonier announced that it has completed separation from Rayonier Advanced Materials. Rayonier Advanced Materials is now an independent specialty chemicals company. A copy of Rayonier's press release on the announcement is available online....

Barnhardt Manufacturing Company has earned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Certified Biobased Product Label for its High Q® Cotton. The USDA Certified Biobased Product Label verifies that the product's amount of renewable biobased ingredients meets or exceeds levels set by USDA....

Intuitively, entities in the "biobased" space may think the "naturally occurring" substance exemption under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the law that governs chemical products in the U.S., applies to their "biobased" materials. The scope of the exemption is limited, however, and complications arise when companies mistakenly assume a material is naturally occurring and therefore exempt from TSCA. Learn more about this important issue online.  ...

On October 28, 2013, DuPont announced the start of the second phase of its China Research and Development Center. The Center will focus on the development of biobased materials, among other things. A copy of DuPont's press release on the announcement is available online....