Friday, February 8, 2008

Metabolix teams with Donald Danforth on better bioplastics crops

Metabolix Inc. has started a program to develop an advanced industrial oilseed crop to produce bioplastics.

As part of this initiative, the company is collaborating with oilseed experts at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, a nonprofit research institute in St. Louis, Mo. Metabolix said it will assemble a team of scientists to establish an R&D presence in St. Louis. The collaboration is funded by a two-year, $1.1 million grant from the Missouri Life Sciences Trust Fund to the Danforth Center.

Oilseeds are the primary feedstock for more than 250 million gallons of biodiesel produced annually in the United States, according to Metabolix. The company is also developing enhanced switchgrass and sugarcane crops to produce biodegradable plastic from the leaves and stems of the crops.

Metabolix is known for making gift cards and credit cards from its Mirel line of bio-based, sustainable and biodegradable plastics that provides an alternative to traditional, petroleum-based plastics.

Late last year, Metabolix landed a deal with retail giant Target Corp. to place gift cards made using the company's Mirel biobased plastic in all 1,600 Target stores nationwide.

In September 2007, Metabolix received a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology. The company said it would use the grant to develop a commercially viable process for producing bio-based chemicals from renewable agricultural products, rather than the typical from fossil hydrocarbons such as oil or coal.

Founded in 1992, Cambridge-based Metabolix reported a 2006 net loss of $16.1 million on revenue of $4.6 million.