NatureWorks has updated the ecoprofile data—a life cycle assessment of energy, water, and other resource used together with air and water emissions and solid waste—for producing 150,000 metric tons/year of its Ingeo polylactide polymers derived from renewable biomass. Ingeo biopolymers can replace petroleum-derived materials in products including food service wares, fibers, 3D printing, films, and rigid packaging. The new 2014 Ingeo life cycle inventory and impact assessment, updated from the 2010 ecoprofile, is published in Industrial Biotechnology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert Inc., publishers. The article is available Open Access on the Industrial Biotechnology website.

Erwin Vink and Steve Davies, Nature Works, The Netherlands and Minnetonka, Minnesota, respectively, provide a detailed description of the Ingeo production system and the methods and calculations used to evaluate various environmental indicators, such as greenhouse gas emissions, global warming potential, and land use for Ingeo production.

The article "Life Cycle Inventory and Impact Assessment Data for 2014 Ingeo Polylactide Production" presents comparisons of the energy and water use and global warming potential of the Ingeo production system and fossil-based polymer production.

"It is important that we share with our readers the opportunities to develop bioproducts that have positive lifecycle benefits, as is the case with polylactide product manufactured by Nature Work," says Co-Editor-in-Chief Larry Walker, Biological and Environmental Engineering Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.