Unleashing Putida: Biobased Methacrylates for a Sustainable Future

This project will apply world-class biotechnology to deliver the world's first bio-based commercially viable manufacturing process for methacrylate ester (MAE), the building block of poly-methylmethacrylate (Perspex(r)) with a game-changing improvement in sustainability. The collaboration of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC --Japan), Lucite International, its UK headquartered subsidiary and UK based biotechnology SME, Ingenza Ltd thereby brings disruptive innovation to a product, currently manufactured solely using unsustainable feedstocks and chemical manufacturing processes. As market leaders with a one-third share of the annual global 3.7 million tons ($6.7bn) methacrylates market, MCC and Lucite possess unrivalled knowledge of the market potential and needs, as well as process scale-up and engineering expertise to provide a compelling route to market and a sound business plan for the project outputs. MCC's corporate vision demands a rapid realisation of biobased methacrylates being brought to the market, thereby fulfilling its sustainability commitments according to the corporation's KAITEKI principles of lower dependence on fossil fuel raw materials, reduced water consumption and overall lower carbon footprint. Ground breaking technology, including fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) based screening will select isolates of the microbe used in this fermentation based manufacturing process, meeting required performance criteria of product tolerance, productivity, operational robustness and feedstock conversion efficiency.

The project will deliver the optimised production organism and a validated, scalable bio-manufacturing process that de-risks post-project progression to commercial piloting, in preparation for cost-competitive, sustainable manufacturing of one of the world's most important and versatile durable polymers. The project thereby aims to deliver a world-leading example of commercial industrial biotechnology success.

_PERSPEX_(r) is a registered trademark of _Perspex_ International.