DG-Based Resins Spring into Plastics

by Ann Bailey (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Nebraska’s Laurel Biocomposite produces biomaterials for thermoset applications. -- Laurel Biocomposite LLC is using distillers grains to create biomaterials that will be used in lawn and gardening products across the United States this spring.

The Nebraska company, founded in 2007, moved into a new manufacturing plant in Laurel in 2013 and began converting distillers grains into a powder that can be used for thermoset applications and master-batched pellets used in thermoplastic applications.

Laurel Biocomposite has a supply agreement for the distillers grains used in its BioRes products with Husker Ag LLC, Plainview, Nebraska. Husker Ag uses more than 26 million bushels of corn annually to produce about 76 MMgy of ethanol, plus wet and dry distillers grains.

At full capacity, Laurel Biocomposite will use about 15,000 tons of dried distillers grains annually, says Tim Bearnes, the company’s CEO. Laurel Biocomposite has capacity to produce 50 million pounds of Bio-Res products annually. The company markets its products to the plastic industry, the third-largest manufacturing industry in the U.S.

Laurel Biocomposite’s biomaterials, such as BioRes powder, offer a viable option to conventional plastic materials, without sacrificing physical properties. The powder, for example, replaces calcium carbonate in a sheet-molded or bulk-molded thermostat composite, at the same time cutting weight by up to 25 percent. That makes it especially suited for car and truck panel applications.

In Stillwater, Minnesota, SelfEco is producing garden pots with built-in plant food that are made from Laurel Biocomposite BioRes PLA. The nutrients come from the distillers grains used to manufacture the resin, says Danny Mishek, SelfEco president and CEO.

“It has the right amount of nutrients and proteins to allow the plant roots to take in the nutrients,” Mishek says. SelfEco pots also benefit the environment because they allow gardeners to reduce the amount of fertilizer they use and because the pots eventually break down, Mishek says.

“The material has been certified to be industrial compostable,” he says. Gardeners either can leave the pots in the ground to provide nutrients to the soil for the next gardening season or take what remains of the pots to an industrial compost center, Mishek says.