New Energy Chemicals, the new subsidiary of biofuel and biochemicals developer New Energy Blue, is to provide material science company Dow with biobased ethylene for the production of low-carbon plastics, said Packaging-gateway.
New Energy Chemicals’ biobased fuel and chemicals are derived from crop residues. In late 2025, its biomass refinery in Mason City, Iowa, US will begin converting local corn stalks into between 16 and 20m gallons per year of highly decarbonised (HD) cellulosic ethanol and 120,000 tons of clean HD lignin. Lignin has high value as a fossil substitute in markets such as that for decarbonising steel production.
Millions of HD gallons will head to Texas, where New Energy Chemicals will convert it into bio-based ethylene. This will be transported via a pipeline to Dow‘s US Gulf Coast operations for the production of renewable plastics for fast-growing end markets such as packaging.
Dow’s use of bio-based feedstocks from New Energy Blue is expected to be certified by ISCC [International Sustainability and Carbon Certification] Plus, an international sustainability certification programme with a focus on the traceability of raw materials within the supply chain.
As Dow intends to mix agriculture-based ethylene into its existing manufacturing process, ISCC Plus’s chain of custody certification would allow its customers to account for bio-based materials in their supply chains.
We remind, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule today prohibiting ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos, the last form of asbestos currently used in or imported to the United States. The EPA said the ban is the first rule to be finalized under the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances and Control Act (TSCA) and “marks a major milestone for chemical safety after more than three decades of inadequate protections and serious delays.”
mrchub.com