An entirely new type heat-resistant bioplastic, "BIOFRONT" has been developed by New Business Development Group, Teijin Limited in cooperation with Musashino Chemical Laboratory, Ltd. and been promoted to the market for practical applications.

Bioplastics have attracted much attention for their environmentally-friendly nature, the product of plants such as corn or potatoes instead of petroleum. However the melting point of polylactide, a well-known bioplastic, is no more than 170ºC, limiting its usage because of its low heat-resistance and durability.

"We started the research of bioplastic in 2004, and finally succeeded in developing "BIOFRONT" , having a highly stable crystal structure, due to combination of L-lactic acid and its optical isomer, D-lactic acid, which are produced by Musashino Chemical Laboratory, with Teijin's unique polymer crystallization technology. Stable crystal structure of "BIOFRONT" achieves a melting point of as high as about 210ºC, which is equivalent to that of polybutylene terephthalate, a typical heat-resistant plastic. Fabrics made from "BIOFRONT" can be ironed, which is impossible with conventional bioplastics fibers," said Kiyotsuna Toyohara.

"Development efforts started from almost zero because this research area was an entirely new venture for the Teijin Group. In 2007, we developed a fabric for car seats that was the first use in the market in cooperation with Mazda Motor Corp.. "BIOFRONT" was applied for Mazda's new 'Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid' and unveiled for the first time at the Tokyo Motor Show 2007."

"While automakers are much interested in environmentally-friendly materials, their requirements for materials are very demanding. "BIOFRONT" achieves the required characteristics that have never been met by conventional plant-derived fabrics. This has given us high confidence in ourselves. We will try to expand its applications not only for industrial materials but also for apparel textiles, and to further enhance its properties such as heat-resistance, durability and dye fastness," said Toyohara.

Other than use as fabric, its applications have possibility in the area of optical, electric and electronic products by taking advantages of such features as its high processability and transparency, which is superior to polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

"We have worked on versatile applications for fiber, film and plastic resin through collaboration with the other Teijin group companies in different fields. We anticipate "BIOFRONT" production to reach several hundreds tons in 2008, and would eventually like to replace 10% of versatile engineering plastics (4.5 to 6 million tons of polyester fibers are produced domestically) with "BIOFRONT."

Plant-derived "BIOFRONT" is highly expected as an alternative for petroleum, whose price has been skyrocketing. Teijin also considers utilization of plants thrown away such as non-edible cellulose as materials for "BIOFRONT" in the future.

"We wish to apply this environmentally friendly "BIOFRONT" to an alternative for petroleum, and a base for future society where all children can live happily."