Metabolix, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.; www.metabolix.com) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CJ CheilJedang Corp. (CJ; Seoul. Korea; www.cj.co.kr) for a strategic commercial manufacturing arrangement for specialty polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), including the company’s newly launched amorphous polyhydroxyalkanoates (a-PHA). Under the non-binding MOU, the companies have agreed to work together toward the successful conclusion of definitive agreements under which CJ will fund, construct and operate a 10,000 metric ton (m.t.) PHA-production unit at CJ’s Fort Dodge, Iowa facility based on Metabolix’s PHA technology. Under the contemplated definitive agreements, Metabolix will buy the specialty PHAs produced at the Fort Dodge facility from CJ, and market and sell the materials to its commercial customers. The companies also expect to define a framework for longer-term expansion of the collaboration for larger scale PHA production and related commercial activities.
In late 2015 and early 2016, Metabolix and CJ undertook a comprehensive feasibility study and assessment of CJ’s Fort Dodge facility as a potential site for specialty PHA production. With the successful conclusion of the feasibility study and engineering plans, CJ is finalizing a detailed budget for the capital investment needed to establish 10,000 m.t./yr of PHA capacity on the site and the two companies are turning their attention to the definitive agreements for the project.
Metabolix has developed an extensive technology platform around a family of biobased and inherently biodegradable polymers, called PHAs. Specifically, Metabolix has focused on using its extensive capabilities in PHA bioscience to create specialty PHAs, including a-PHAs with unique chemistries that allow them to be used as multifunctional additives. The company is working to leverage these key material properties of PHA biopolymers in the target application spaces of PVC and PLA modification, functional biodegradation and paper coating. In 2015, Metabolix launched a-PHA from pilot production, and in 2016 is focused on securing initial and recurring sales across the target application spaces in anticipation of growing customer conversions and orders to baseload the new commercial capacity contemplated by the MOU with CJ.
The Fort Dodge production facility is operated by CJ BIO, a division of CJ CheilJedang, a world leader in microbial fermentation based R&D and manufacturing for a range of amino acids, including lysine, as well as nucleotides. CJ BIO operates world-scale fermentation facilities in the U.S., China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil.