Danimer Scientific, a leading next-generation bioplastics company focused on the development and production of highly engineered biodegradable materials, on Tuesday announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2023.
In the earnings announcement, Danimer Chairman and CEO Stephen Croskrey noted the role of resins for flexible packaging in the company’s expanding portfolio.
“We are very pleased, after more than three years of careful development work on three new end-use applications, to now have commercialized protective films, shrink wrap and produce bags,” Croskrey said. “We are also excited to play a key role in the rapid commercial launch of compostable coffee-pods. This is a very large category currently dependent on petroleum-based materials which pending EU legislation, if passed, would prohibit from use.”
Croskrey added: “We continue to push forward on other meaningful commercial initiatives. As we await final selections for straw and cutlery programs for customers in the quick service restaurant space, we are making excellent progress in the development of aqueous and extruded coatings for paper cups and for thermoformed cup lids. We believe that our unique ability to offer customers this combination of four key end-use applications will make for a powerful, comprehensive and extremely valuable solution that addresses single-use plastic waste for customers across the food service industry.”
Danimer describes itself as a performance polymer company specializing in bioplastic replacement for traditional petroleum-based plastics.
“We bring together innovative technologies to deliver biodegradable bioplastic materials to global consumer product companies. We believe that we are the only commercial company in the bioplastics market to combine the production of a base polymer along with the reactive extrusion capacity in order to give customers a ‘drop-in’ replacement for a wide variety of petroleum-based plastics,” Danimer said in its 10-Q filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “We derive our revenue primarily from product sales of PHA- and PLA-based resins as well as from services such as contract research and development and tolling.”
Danimer recently began making PHA on a commercial scale. In December 2018, the company acquired a fermentation facility in Winchester, Kentucky. Danimer embarked on a two-phase commissioning strategy for the Kentucky facility, which expanded the capacity of the plant by 45 million pounds to a total plant capacity up to 65 million pounds of finished product per year. The capacity expansion was completed in 2022.
In November 2021, Danimer broke ground on the construction of a PHA plant in Bainbridge, Georgia (Greenfield Facility). Through June 30, 2023, Danimer invested $186.7 million in the Greenfield Facility, excluding capitalized interest and internal labor.
The Greenfield Facility has an engineering cost estimate ranging from $515 million to $665 million, and it will have a planned annual production capacity of approximately 125 million pounds of finished product. Danimer reported in its 10-Q filing that the company has suspended construction of the Greenfield Facility and that completion of the facility is contingent upon receiving additional financing.
However, in a related development, Danimer announced in a separate release on Tuesday the acceptance of its Part II Application by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the Title XVII Loan Guarantee. The company has been invited into the confirmatory due diligence and term sheet negotiation process that, upon successful completion, could lead to funding from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Federal Financing for construction of the Greenfield Facility in Bainbridge, Georgia.