Lignin Industries teams with Hellyar to bring bio-based plastic to new mark

In Sweden, Lignin Industries has signed a partnership agreement with the UK’s leading independent compounder and distributor of polymers, Whitstable-based Hellyar to bring its innovative bio-based plastic to new markets, as well as scale the commercialization of Lignin Industries’ patented technology. Lignin Industries has developed a means of ending the plastic industry’s reliance on fossil fuel-based plastics:

incorporating lignin within truly sustainable, recyclable bio-based plastic. Going public following five years of R&D, Lignin Industries has created Renol®, a patented bio-based material developed from the lignin.

As a feedstock for bio-based materials, lignin is perfectly suited; it is considered a secondary material, as it is non-competing with food production. Lignin Industries sources its lignin from the forestry and agriculture industries, where its remarkable scalability is currently not utilized, as more than 700 million tons of lignin is routinely incinerated or otherwise discarded or used for low value applications per year. When incorporated within plastics, the life cycle and value chain of lignin is extended, and it delivers emission reductions.

Lignin Industries will benefit from Hellyar’s role as both a compounder and a distributor, tapping into Hellyar’s decades of experience and deep network. At their Whitstable factory, Hellyar has incorporated Renol® within Acrylonitrile

Butadiene Styrene (ABS) and Polypropylene (PP) applications. Hellyar customers have products containing Renol® in advanced development stage for sectors such as domestic goods and construction, which are due to launch shortly.

Hellyar and Lignin Industries are already exploring additional sectors to launch, including the automotive industry. Hellyar and Lignin Industries have been working together for 18 months. Customers of Hellyar have been receptive to the new product and its remarkable market potential as a bio-based solution that will lower emissions, as well as Renol® being fully recyclable in open recycling streams. Additional Renol® key differentiators include flexibility in terms of blend percentages; the processability and consistency at temperatures allowing for shorter cycle times when injection molded; and the ability to perform repeat processes, at-scale, to high standards.