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TerraVerdae BioWorks Awarded Alberta Innovates Grant for Development and Scale up of Biodegradable Plastics from Waste-derived Methanol
February 27, 2012

TerraVerdae BioWorks Awarded Alberta Innovates Grant for Development and Scale up of Biodegradable Plastics from Waste-derived Methanol
EDMONTON, Alberta and BEVERLY, Massachusetts

TerraVerdae BioWorks, an industrial biotechnology company developing advanced bioplastics and environmentally sustainable biomaterials, today announced the award of a $1.2 million Advanced Materials and Chemicals Program grant by Alberta Innovates Biosolutions to optimize its process technology to produce biodegradable plastics from waste-derived methanol. This award supports TerraVerdae’s plans to refine and scale up its current technology that uses microorganisms to convert methanol from municipal, forestry, and other waste sources into biodegradable plastic.

TerraVerdae is developing a unique production platform for the sustainable conversion of waste-derived methanol into biodegradable plastic. In addition, a second key focus is the further development, compounding, modification, and application of the produced bioplastic into end user products and applications. This plastic will be processed and tuned to meet specific performance requirements as next-generation advanced biomaterials in a range of specific applications and markets.

“Producing plastic from biobased sources as alternatives to petroleum avoids pressures on food and agricultural resources, limits impact on land use, and helps mitigate environmental effects including greenhouse gas, air, water, and soil impacts,” said William Bardosh, CEO and founder of TerraVerdae BioWorks. “The market for biodegradable materials is rapidly becoming a $30 billion global opportunity, with the potential to produce significant and sustainable benefits for Alberta.”

About Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions
Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions (AI Bio) is a board-governed agency of the Government of Alberta that works with partners to identify, coordinate and fund research projects to grow prosperity in Alberta’s agriculture, food and forestry sectors. We help to solve industry challenges with solutions that deliver economic, environmental and social benefits. AI Bio works with agriculture and forestry, the province’s leading renewable industries that currently contribute more than $25 billion every year into the Alberta economy. For more information please visit: http://bio.albertainnovates.ca

About TerraVerdae BioWorks
TerraVerdae BioWorks develops biodegradable bioplastics, biobased chemicals, and bioactives from environmentally sustainable, single carbon (C1) feedstocks. TerraVerdae’s industrial biorefinery platform combines systems biology, bioprocess engineering, and polymer chemistry capabilities to produce high-value, performance biomaterials. These products have applications in the agriculture/horticulture, personal care, dietary supplement, and associated markets. TerraVerdae’s synthetic biology platform and proprietary genetic tools have developed biobased products and challenging proteins for companies and institutes worldwide.

TerraVerdae BioWorks is headquartered in Canada with operations in the US and the UK.

For more details, please contact us.