Polymer Science and Engineering

Biography

Biography: Rina Singh

Abstract

There continues to be an increased interest in synthesizing renewable chemicals from renewable resources, even with the downturn in the economy, which has slowed down the time it takes to reach commercial reality, but there still continues to be partnerships and business deals in the making. As a result of the early commercialization of renewable chemicals such as 1,2-propylene glycol, 1,3-propanediol, bioethanol, polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), and more recently, polyethylene terephthalic acid (PET), this has encouraged interest nationally and internationally to further build on these early successes. Investments through partnerships are occurring globally involving a multitude of startup companies and amongst mature chemical companies engaged in building their product portfolios. There is interest in complementing existing product pipelines from incumbent technologies with renewably derived products from renewable sources, providing options for consumers to select sustainable products. Now there are both federal and state policies encouraging the growth in this sector, which once, were only in discussion stages. The presentation will focus on the policies impacting the growth of the sector and will provide the commercial status of building blocks for bioplastics and biobased materials.