Renewable materials used to produce chemicals, fuels and plastics are on the rise as we move away from fossil feedstocks. In the transition to a circular economy, chemicals and materials produced from biomass will play a key role. Biobased chemicals, fuels and plastic production is expected to grow. All biomass processing requires separation steps not needed for conventional production. Separation steps that Alfa Laval can provide. My name is Francesco Montecchio and I´m an application specialist in energy seperation at Alfa Laval. Today I will talk about Alfa Laval bioplastics solutions helping the environment while enhancing your bottom line. This type of material is synthesized via fermentation, where Alfa Laval has a really long experience with our disk stack centrifuges and evaporators to separate products and recycle the water used in the washing stages. In particular, centrifuges are a key component because they are used in many stages like, for example, when harvesting the bacteria cells or when we need to de-water the biopolymer. Due to the growth of this sector, we have now developed products which are tailor-made for this application. With these enhancements, we can significantly increase the production yield while cutting operational costs at the same time. Those two aspects are fundamental when planning to scale-up production to the same levels as fossil-based plastic. One of the key components is the patented hermetic inlet and outlet mechanism which enables a gentle acceleration of the feed when entering the separator. This feature prevents the rupture of bacteria cells inside the separator which would result in product losses. In addition, because both inlet and outlet are located at the center of the separator we can save up to 40% in energy consumption. Finally, our expertise is not limited only to separation technology but we can offer a complete process optimization for example, designing the downstream process while offering all key components. If you're interested in how we can improve your bioplastic process do not hesitate to contact Alfa Laval today. The future is renewable and we will get there together with you.