Biodegradable Polymers

Circe fermentation makes bulk pellets which are melted at point of manufacture to make light plastics like cutlery or stretched to make the films which make paper coffee cups waterproof. As it is made from nature, it can return to nature – unlike forever floating plastics in our seas, our biopolymers simply degrade back to their elements.

Just like Circe proteins, the production process is, at its core, a simple gas based fermentation flow, not dissimilar to millennia old bread and beer techniques. The clever bit is our library of researched bacterias and a late stage chemical intervention to suppress protein growth and force the secretion of a biodegradable polymer, which nature uses as an energy store just like humans use fat.  

While the market for PHA and PHB is growing quickly, Circe´s patented coupled process produces lactic acid, which is sold to vast refineries to produce Polylactic acid (PLA), a ubiquitous commodity. The difference @Circe is that its production is decoupled from land use and does not compete for space with food fields. Sugar is the traditional biomass used in PLA production, beets grown on agricultural lands, converted rainforests and directly linked to global deforestation and environmentally damaging water diversion.