Marco Astorri
ITA / ENG

Future

The future is still doing business. Solving the problem of polluting plastic and fake bio polymers passed off as the solution to all problems.
Even the recycling of plastic, which is very fashionable, does not solve the problem of pollution.
To annihilate "green washing". Always start from where you came from and from the objectives achieved. In every part of the world.
Always be available to contribute, restart and continue from what has been achieved:

 

  • hundreds of patents filed worldwide and registered in every country.
  • continue the research and development carried out between 2008 and 2019 in more than 40 universities around the world with over 200 researchers.
  • develop every innovative application to replace the polluting plastic we see and touch as well as the invisible one we ingest.
  • go beyond the pilot plants of various sizes built up to now, which from 2008 to 2017 were three.
  • enhance the designs of industrial plants to obtain PHAs.
  • contribute to the development of current productions which have seen the construction, among other things, of 420,000 kg of reinforcing iron, 600,000 kg of assembled metal carpentry, the involvement of 40 suppliers of equipment and apparatus, 10 companies that built the plant on site , 1500 m2 of container premises. In Bologna in 2019 we created the industry for the production of the plastic of the future, natural and non-polluting.

 

The future will also be about fighting against lies to establish the truth, knowing from the beginning that who accuses
has the enormous difficulty of making judges believe that everything that anyone can see, read and touch does not exist.
It seems crazy. But it is the reality we live in today. Those who accuse, trivializing, say that everything that exists does not exist.
And it doesn't matter that anyone is able to prove that it exists.
But who wanted to destroy everything, on the basis of false inferences, now has to demonstrate what cannot be demonstrated.
He has to prove that the island doesn't exist, even if we're all on it.

Future
Futuro

2019 Kailua Beach Park HONOLULU microplastics

Futuro

2019 Kailua Beach Park HONOLULU microplastics

THERE IS AN ISLAND OF PLASTIC IN THE PACIFIC. SCIENTISTS HAVE DISCOVERED THAT EVERY MONT WE EAT 5 gr. OF POLLUTING MICROPLASTICS. IT IS THE INVISIBLE RESIDUE OF PLASTIC IN WATER OR LAND. IT IS THE FRUIT OF POLLUTION.
PHA IS A BIOPLASTIC THAT NATURALLY BIODEGRADES EVEN IN WATER AND CAN SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.

 

THE 2007-2019 BIO-ON PROJECT

 

BIO-ON is an Italian company that was founded in 2007 and operates in the biotechnology sector to produce polymeric materials obtained from renewable natural sources or from agro-food processing waste for various types of applications. The company operates in the bioplastics sector focusing on a material that has been known since 1926, but for which few players had decided to invest until a few years ago. This choice proved to be successful, because the company was listed on the AIM market of the Milan stock exchange in 2014 with a share price of 5.8 euros until it reached a share value of 70 euros in 2018, with a capitalization of around 1.3 billion.
BIO-ON was born from the intuition of Marco Astorri and Guido Cicognani. In particular, the entrepreneurial idea consists in proposing an innovative and exclusive process for the production of biopolymers based on poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHA), which can biodegrade in nature in sea water, river water and in the soil at environment temperature and without mechanical handling. This idea is confirmed by the scientific works of a researcher at the University of Hawaii, Dr. Jian Yu, who at the time of the establishment of BIO-ON had filed patents for the production of PHA using waste deriving from processing beet or cane to obtain sugar (molasses).
The production process is of the fermentative type in which the microorganisms, suitably selected to digest the molasses, receive a form of stress, caused by a decrease in nutrition (feast/famine process). This stress drives them to produce PHA as a backup energy source for the future. Subsequently, with a mechanical high pressure homogenization process the biopolymer is then extracted from the bacteria and the result is a milky liquid. This liquid is then dried and what remains is a powder which will then become bioplastic.
BIO-ON acquires the rights to Jian Yu's patents, becoming the worldwide owner of this technology. The raw material is easy to find given that in the Emilia-Romagna Region there are many agri-food companies that face the problem of having to dispose of their production waste. In the initial stages of the project, a study was also carried out for the systematization of the various supply chains that could provide for the maintenance of the plants.
This study showed that there are no supply criticalities, since BIO-ON has received requests from all over the world for the disposal and management of waste or agricultural by-products and additionally, the selected bacterial strains are available in large quantities and used by the company.
Over time, the development of the technology has produced several patents of which BIO-ON is the owner and this has meant that BIO-ON is a "patent company", i.e. a company whose main objective is not to sell the product , but rather license the production to third parties.
The Company's patent assets today constitute a strategic asset of primary value, with over 100 IP titles. Analyzing the BIO-ON patents, we find a multiplicity of application areas in which the PHA products with the Minerv-PHA™ brand can be placed.
Among the applications already on the market or that the company would have the potential to market, the following are mentioned:

 

  • Sunscreens: replacing 100% of the polymer in cream applications
  • Furniture: replacing 100% PP, PE, and PC in designer furniture
  • Biomedical: regenerating the nerves and reducing the need for intervention
  • Toys: replacing most plastic applications

 

The products owned by BIO-ON still to be launched on the market concern the following sectors:

 

  • Packaging: replacing plastic screw caps, two-layer foils, etc.
  • Fabrics: replacing polyesters in fabrics
  • Glues: replacing most of the existing chemical glues
  • Animal food: 100% eliminating the use of antibiotics
  • Filters: reducing the impact of polluting substances by 90%.
  • Electronics: generation of energy from the mechanical movement (e.g. recharging a pc during digitization)
  • Cosmetics: production of natural microspheres for any cosmetic application

 

BIO-ON's main asset is its know-how, which is complementary to its intangible patent heritage.

 

The higher revenues were mainly generated through:

 

  • Licensing manufacturing rights to PHA
  • Licensing manufacturing rights to finished products using PHA
  • Licensing proprietary items, i.e. fermenters through access to projects and suppliers
  • Commissioned research projects
  • Value-added services (design of engineering models, supervision of plant construction, support in commissioning and start-up, training of personnel involved).

 

 

Here is a selection of the international patents made by Bio-on from 2008 to 2019, a point of great pride in my work as an entrepreneur.

 

 

Processes for producing microbial copolyesters from sucrose-containing feedstocks

https://patents.google.com/patent/US9796988B2/en?oq=14%2f358911 

 

 

Process for recovering and purifying polyhydroxyalkanoates from a cell culture

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20160168319A1/en?oq=14%2f908456

 

 

Compositions comprising polyesters of biological origin and biocompatible inorganic compounds, and uses thereof in the cosmetic field

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20190159997A1/en?oq=16%2f300513

 

 

Production of biodegradable thermoplastic materials from organic wastes

https://patents.google.com/patent/US7141400B2/en?oq=10%2f501052

 

 

Biocompatible polymeric nanoparticles containing functional metal nanostructures, preparation processes, and related uses in diagnostic and/or therapeutic fields

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20190224345A1/en?oq=16%2f312556 

 

 

Recovery and purification of polyhydroxyalkanoates

https://patents.google.com/patent/US7514525B2/en?oq=11%2f684110

 

 

Methods for bioremediation of waters contaminated with hydrocarbons
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20200024172A1/en?oq=16%2f335841

 

 

Cosmetic compositions comprising biodegradable polyesters and oily phases

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210113450A1/en?oq=16%2f498085

 

 

Composition based on at least one biodegradable polymer and use thereof as a binder for coating products

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20200277490A1/en?oq=16%2f762379

 

 

Powdered compositions based on polyhydroxyalkanoates and uses thereof in dental prophylaxes

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210113436A1/en?oq=17%2f253030

 

 

Polyhydroxyalkanoates for use in the prevention or treatment of an overweight or obesity condition, or of metabolic dysfunctions related to said condition

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210161948A1/en?oq=17%2f263327

 

 

Flexible, biodegradable and biocompatible supercondenser
https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2020109841A1/en?oq=PCT%2fIB2018%2f059391 

 

 

Medical device for use in the regeneration of an injured nerve

https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2020049337A1/en?oq=PCT%2fIB2018%2f056803

 

 

Membrane to re-establish continuity of injured biological tissues

https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2020049339A1/en?oq=PCT%2fIB2018%2f056805

 

 

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (pha) for use in the treatment and/or prevention of oral cavity diseases

https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2020128584A1/en

 

 

Piezoelectric device comprising a membrane comprising fibres of a polyhydroxyalkanoate

https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2020136420A1/en?oq=PCT%2fIB2018%2f060643

 

 

SLOW RELEASE FERTILIZING COMPOSITION, AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2020165820 

 

 

Process for producing porous particles of a polyhydroxyalkanoate (pha), porous particles obtainable from said process and cosmetic compositions comprising the same

https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2020188439A1/en 

 

 

Filter elements suitable for use in smoking articles and processes for producing the same

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20200375245A1/en 

 

 

Aerosol-generating articles suitable for use in aerosol-generating devicesl

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210015170A1/en?oq=16%2f511567

 

 

SMOKING DEVICE COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE BREAKABLE FLAVOURING CAPSULE

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2021024157

 

 

Polyhydroxyalcanoate for use in the prevention of colonrectal cancer
https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2019175725