Scion is developing new bioproducts with targeted functionalities such as lighter weight, heat and water resistance, durability, toughness and flame retardancy.

We take a circular bioeconomy approach, focussing on converting renewable biological resources, including waste streams, into bio-based products. We focus on using side and waste streams from the forest, agriculture and other sectors as feedstocks to make bio-products that can compete with petroleum-based counterparts not only on sustainability criteria but also on enhanced performance and novelty.

Read more about New Zealand's bioeconomy - Dr Florian Graichen in The Orchardist, December 2017

Read nine of our success stories from molecular to tree-scale and from lab-scale to commercialisation.

Developing biopolymers and biochemicals

Biopolymers, processing biomass using extrusion, fillers and novel bio-based additives are some of the products and processes we focus on. Using what nature provides, green chemistry principles and ensuring cost-effectiveness, we develop technologies utilising renewable resources for plastics, adhesives, coatings, foams, pulp and packaging and fibre-composites.

Plastics - a circular economy approach

Plastics are fundamental to our everyday life. Yet with 8 million tonnes of plastic ending up in the ocean each year, we urgently need to rethink the way we make, use, and reuse plastics.

This is part of a wider shift from a linear to a circular economy in which plastics never become waste.

Compostability testing

Scion can measure how materials decompose under different conditions.

Transforming through industrial biotechnology

Biotransformation, or modifying (bio)materials, uses microbes, enzymes and other agents derived from bio-organisms (biological processes) to breakdown and transform biomass into biofuels, bioplastics such as PHA and other products. The rise of biotransformation reflects a shift towards industrial practices that focus on using renewable materials instead of fossil fuels. We specialise in developing industrial fermentation and identifying and using new biocatalysts.

Bark biorefinery

Unlocking new hydrophobic polymers