Dama BioPlastics Forges Carbon Neutral Future with Swedish Automaker Polestar
11/22/23 • 47 min
On this week’s hemp podcast, Lancaster Farming talks with Cole Gibbs and Adam Dietrich from Colorado-based Dama BioPlastics.
The company specializes in biomaterials and bioplastics made from upcycled agricultural plant waste, including industrial hemp which is abundant in Colorado’s flourishing hemp and cannabis industries.
Dietrich, Dama’s director of material science, said they’re not using industrial hemp exclusively, but of all the plant waste, “it’s one of the best that we’ve seen,” and the carbon makeup of the hemp waste “is quite high, 40% to 45%,” he said.
“Then we convert that material into usable drop-in replacements for automotive plastics (and) the construction industries,” said founder and CEO Gibbs.
One of the products the company makes is called Dama Black, a bio-based replacement for carbon black, a material widely used in petroleum-based plastics.
“Carbon black is a fossil fuel byproduct,” Gibbs said. “Basically, it’s the soot inside the chimneys when they’re burning material that gets added to plastics to generate the black colorant and UV protection.”
Carbon black is ubiquitous — from tires to toys, electronics to car parts. It is in nearly every black plastic in use today, Gibbs said.
Because Dama Black is a carbon negative bio-based material, it is very attractive to automakers seeking to de-carbonize their vehicles and production lines.
One such company is Swedish automaker Polestar, which has set ambitious climate-carbon goals for its fleet of electric cars.
Polestar is partnering with Dama BioPlastics for the Polestar 0 Project which aims to eliminate — not just reduce — all greenhouse gas emissions from every aspect of production by 2030.
Gibbs said Dama BioPlastics is one of the only exclusive North American partners “for the Polestar 0 project for all of their electric vehicles going forward.”
Gibbs said Dama Black will be used in everything that would normally be used in traditional petroleum plastic, from interior pieces and window switches to dashboards and exterior trim.
“We’re even looking into the automotive tires and the rubber seal, the gear around the door frames and everything,” he said.
Gibbs said his company is also working with the Polestar team “to eliminate the massive volume of different types of polymers that are used in vehicles” which, he said, can number between 40 and 50 different materials.
“We want to shrink that down into a smaller number, so it’s more easily recycled,” he said.
On this week’s hemp podcast, Lancaster Farming talks with Cole Gibbs and Adam Dietrich from Colorado-based Dama BioPlastics.
The company specializes in biomaterials and bioplastics made from upcycled agricultural plant waste, including industrial hemp which is abundant in Colorado’s flourishing hemp and cannabis industries.
Dietrich, Dama’s director of material science, said they’re not using industrial hemp exclusively, but of all the plant waste, “it’s one of the best that we’ve seen,” and the carbon makeup of the hemp waste “is quite high, 40% to 45%,” he said.
“Then we convert that material into usable drop-in replacements for automotive plastics (and) the construction industries,” said founder and CEO Gibbs.
One of the products the company makes is called Dama Black, a bio-based replacement for carbon black, a material widely used in petroleum-based plastics.
“Carbon black is a fossil fuel byproduct,” Gibbs said. “Basically, it’s the soot inside the chimneys when they’re burning material that gets added to plastics to generate the black colorant and UV protection.”
Carbon black is ubiquitous — from tires to toys, electronics to car parts. It is in nearly every black plastic in use today, Gibbs said.
Because Dama Black is a carbon negative bio-based material, it is very attractive to automakers seeking to de-carbonize their vehicles and production lines.
One such company is Swedish automaker Polestar, which has set ambitious climate-carbon goals for its fleet of electric cars.
Polestar is partnering with Dama BioPlastics for the Polestar 0 Project which aims to eliminate — not just reduce — all greenhouse gas emissions from every aspect of production by 2030.
Gibbs said Dama BioPlastics is one of the only exclusive North American partners “for the Polestar 0 project for all of their electric vehicles going forward.”
Gibbs said Dama Black will be used in everything that would normally be used in traditional petroleum plastic, from interior pieces and window switches to dashboards and exterior trim.
“We’re even looking into the automotive tires and the rubber seal, the gear around the door frames and everything,” he said.
Gibbs said his company is also working with the Polestar team “to eliminate the massive volume of different types of polymers that are used in vehicles” which, he said, can number between 40 and 50 different materials.
“We want to shrink that down into a smaller number, so it’s more easily recycled,” he said.
Previous Episode
Cannabis Breeder Reflects on the Cultural Importance of Hemp
Hemp has played a role in the lives of humans for a very long time, according to this week’s podcast guest, Jeremy Klettke, cannabis breeder and owner of Davis Farms, based in Oregon and Massachusetts.
“It’s clearly culturally assimilated with us. It’s clearly evolved with us,” he said, “when you talk about it from an endogenous cannabinoid perspective.”
“Whatever we ask for, the plant seems to give,” he said. “Food, fuel, fiber — any of it, it’s giving us these incredible versions of it. So there’s clearly been a parallel evolution.”
Klettke has been working internationally with the cannabis plant since the early 1990s and shares many tales from his experience on this episode.
While living and working in Copenhagen in the 1990s, he caught a glimpse of the cannabis trade that has existed internationally for thousands of years, an experience he called “profound.”
“It definitely helped me to recognize that, you know, this plant was a culturally important part of our civilization for ... I didn’t know how long,” he said.
As a plant breeder, he shares his views on genetics and the role THC plays in the plant. He suggests that breeding THC out of hemp altogether will have unintended consequences.
“When you remove THC, you’re removing one of the primary defense mechanisms,” he said.
THC also happens to be the compound responsible for psychoactive properties of cannabis which, he said, humans have been using as a spiritual tool since prehistoric times.
He cited the Dogon tribe in Mali, which would ingest fermented cannabis during their religious ceremonies.
This interview covers a lot of territory.
Davis Farms
News Nuggets
Hemp uses and potential economic impact in Pa.
https://www.witf.org/2023/11/13/hemp-uses-and-potential-economic-impact-in-pa/
Is hemp making a comeback? Tennessee farmers eye an era beyond CBD
Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council
Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council's introductory video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fFW4d3Bykg
Thanks to our Sponsors:
IND HEMP
National Hemp Association
https://nationalhempassociation.org/
Cornell University's Master’s of Professional Studies in Integrative Plant Sciences with a concentration in hemp sciences.
Next Episode
Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council Courts Investors
This week on the hemp podcast we talk with Erica Stark, chair of the Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council, a nonprofit seeking to accelerate the return of hemp to Pennsylvania’s agriculture landscape.
Earlier this year, PAHIC received over $200,000 in grant money from the state ag department to attract capital investment with a program called Invest in PA Hemp.
Last month, the organization released a series of videos and educational materials “specifically geared towards investors to help them understand the space, help them understand what the opportunity is, and also explain all of the reasons why Pennsylvania is an ideal location for investment in this space,” Stark said.
With great farmers, excellent farmland, and proximity to major consumer markets, Pennsylvania is poised to be a leader in the U.S. hemp industry, she said.
“There’s a lot of reasons why Pennsylvania is ideal and we’re just trying to kind of bring that message home,” Stark said.
In the video for investors, Ag Secretary Russell Redding says we’re “at the very intersection of some of the most important issues of our time, and the future is around the bio-based materials we produce off this land.”
“And we see the hemp industry as critical to that success,” he said.
Redding said he wants investors to “see the promise that we see and the opportunities that we see to build an agricultural economy that is the solution to so many of the issues.”
Globally, industrial hemp is estimated to be a $5 billion industry in 2023 and is projected to grow to an $18 billion dollar industry by 2027, according to PAHIC.
The organization also released a kit for entrepreneurs to help navigate the fundraising phase of building their businesses.
“We’ve created a set of tools for business people to help them get investment-ready,” Stark said. “A set of financial tools, financial models, both for the decortication, grain processing, and construction.”
She said they also created a “pitch deck template” to help businesses make a document that gives potential investors an overview of the business model and investment opportunity.
“A lot of people have great ideas, but selling them is always the hard part,” Stark said.
Early next year, PAHIC will launch a secondary campaign that speaks directly to consumers about hemp products and where to find them.
Access the inventor tools at PAHIC.org
Watch PAHIC's inventor video: https://youtu.be/X9H0uz7PPxM?si=bQBRPXdEQqsKGpb8
Thanks to our sponsors!
IND HEMP
King's Agriseedshttps://kingsagriseeds.com/
Cornell University's Master’s of Professional Studies in Integrative Plant Sciences with a concentration in hemp sciences.
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