Technology company Oakbio (Sunnyvale, California / USA; www.oakbio.com) has successfully produced a bio-based polymer using inputs of flue gas and electricity from a cement plant. The process uses microbes to capture carbon dioxide and convert it into a bioplastic that is biodegradable as well as renewable, the company said. The project is an on-site research collaboration at Lehigh Southwest Cement Company’s Permanente cement manufacturing plant in Cupertino, California.

Chief scientist Brian Sefton said: “Our carbon conversion process yields over 50% bioplastics in microbe biomass by dry weight from inputs of raw flue gas and electricity.” The development paves the way to a new method for greenhouse gas capture, making carbon dioxide in emissions gas a feedstock for mass scale manufacturing, he added.

Oakbio’s technology allows both the production of chemicals without the use of petroleum oil or agricultural feedstock and the capture of carbon dioxide to prevent greenhouse gas accumulation, stated group CEO Russell Howard. “The ability of our microbes to perform their magic in cement flue gas is an important step toward achieving this vision,” he said.