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Biopolymers and Bioplastics 2016
September 12-14, 2016
Volume 7, Issue 5(Suppl) J Bioremed Biodeg 2016
ISSN: 2155-6199 JBRBD, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
September 12-14, 2016 San Antonio, USA
3rd International Conference and Exhibition onBiopolymers & Bioplastics
Rina Singh, J Bioremed Biodeg 2016, 7:5(Suppl)
Political landscape for bioplastics and biobased materials
Rina Singh
Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), USA
There continues to be an increased interest in synthesizing renewable chemicals from renewable resources, even with the
downturn in economy, which has slowed down the time it takes to reach commercial reality, but there still continues to
be partnerships and business deals in the making. As a result of the early commercialization of renewable chemicals such
as 1,2-propyleneglycol,1,3-propanediol, bioethanol, polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), and more recently,
polyethyleneterephthalic acid (PET), this has encouraged interest nationally and internationally to further build on these early
successes. Investments through partnerships are occurring globally involving multitude of startup companies, and amongst
mature chemical companies engaged in building their product portfolios. There is interest in complementing existing product
pipelines from incumbent technologies with renewably derived products from renewable sources, providing options for
consumers to select sustainable products. Now there are both federal and state polices encouraging the growth in this sector,
which once, were only in discussion stages. The presentation will focus on the policies impacting the growth of the sector, and
will provide the commercial status of building blocks for bioplastics and biobased materials.
Biography
Rina Singh is director of policy in the industrial biotechnology and environmental section of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). She previously served
as the business development manager at Ashland Inc. She was appointed by the president and CEO as member of an innovative 10-member team assembled to
develop a new strategic direction for Ashland, identifying investment opportunities for $1.5 billion resulting from divesture of petroleum refining operations. She held
general management positions in the technology and business development areas of Ashland, including bioproducts business development manager and platform
technology manager. She started her career at The Dow Chemical Co. as a senior research chemist in the Engineering Thermoplastics Group. The holder of 24
patents and publications, Singh received a B.S., a doctorate in natural products (synthetic organic chemistry) and a post-doctoral degree in polymer science from
McGill University.