Biolive making plastics from pits

What started out as a university exercise in an entrepreneurship class has turned into a full-fledged business finding a creative use for olive pits: plastics.

In just seven years, a trio that met at Istanbul Technical University has created a commercial-scale operation that recycles olive pits, which are actually seeds, into a bioplastic can be used in a variety of products.

Ahmet Ayas is sales manager and co-founder of Biolive Biyolojik ve kimyasal teknolojiler san tic a.s., the Istanbul-based company formed to bring olive pit-based plastics to market.

What started out as a just an idea during class in 2017 eventually grew to lab scale and then a pilot project before becoming a commercial operation about 18 months ago.

The company has a current capacity to handle about 800 metric tons, or 880 short tons, of pits each month. Current production is around 250 tonnes, so there is room for the company to grow into the facility, Ayas said.

That's a lot of olive pits to collect and process, but Ayas said the company's location in the Mediterranean places it in the heart of olive production as Turkey is one of the world's largest olive producers.

Biolive has developed relationships with olive processors, reclaiming large amounts of pits that would otherwise be burned for fuel or buried as waste and using them as a raw material.

A specialized process using temperature and pressure transforms the pits into a material that can then be used to make bioplastics, which can then be used on their own or in conjunction with other traditional plastics to increase sustainability, the co-founder said.

Ayas does not want to discuss the company's process in great detail, fearing the information could invite competition. But this is what he had to say about the technology: "We have some pressure- and temperature-based reactors. At first, we destroy pits, pits parts, and we are making [a] kind of new material. ... What is the result of this? It's kind of mostly cellulose-based materials but not cellulose because materials are very suitable for other plastics."

He readily admits his company's efforts with olive pits is unique and surprising to many who hear about the work.

"Everybody is asking, 'Do you have enough olive pits?' I can easily say, yes we have," Ayas said. "Turkey is one of the biggest producers of olives."

In Turkey alone, Biolive estimates there are 500,000 tonnes of olive pits produced each year. Around the world, that number jumps to 6 million tonnes. So Biolive, with its 800-tonne monthly capacity, has access to plenty of raw material for the company's needs and has room to grow.

Biolive's products are typically used with polypropylene these days but also they are finding applications with other resins including ABS and polyethylene.

Biolive also is currently working to introduce its products to other applications, including polycarbonate and polycarbonate and ABS combinations.

"We are working with almost all kinds of materials, but mostly working on injection molding production methods," Ayas said during an interview at the Fakuma trade show in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

Along with creating a sustainability story by reusing olive pits to replace petroleum-based plastics, Biolive points to energy savings that can be achieved by introducing its material. That's because processing temperatures can be about 25-30 degrees cooler than typical. This then lowers the carbon footprint of production.

"We provide same production, same machinery, same mold and almost same parameters, just reduction of the production temperature. The rest of them is the same," said Ayas, who counts both Emin Oz and Duygu Yilmaz as co-founders. The company, since its start, has grown to attract a stable of 20 investors.

Ayas said there is a slight price premium for using Biolive compared with just using traditional resins.