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Bioabsorbable Polymers: Ensuring Safety and Improving Patient Outcomes

In the world of medicine, new devices offer huge potential for patients and healthcare. At the forefront of this wave are bioabsorbable or resorbable polymers – giant molecules that can be broken down by and assimilated back into the body gradually over time. This allows the body to heal without the need for a permanent device implant or surgery to remove a medical device once healing has properly occurred.

However, with that potential comes the need for strict testing and regulation. Without these precautions, there is no way to assure that the material will be safe for the patient or if it will perform as expected.

The benefits of bioabsorbable polymers
Bioabsorbable polymers play an important role in all kinds of surgeries, procedures and healthcare. For example, in maxillofacial surgery, these materials allow surgeons to provide scaffolding to aid the healing process that are broken down into small molecules once they are no longer needed.

Polylactic acid is one common resorbable polymer due to its strength and biocompatibility. Once it’s within the body, it converts to lactic acid – the same chemical that causes you to feel the burn during a workout.

Considerations for the testing process
There are many ways to characterize and test bioabsorbable polymers for their safety and effectiveness, including inherent and intrinsic viscosity, molecular weight distribution, moisture content, and several others. Polymer structure, molecular weight, and morphology are three attributes that affect not only the mechanical properties of the material, but also the rate of resorb.

Testing laboratories must be aware of potentially toxic polymeric degradation products – if these build up in the body or occur in concentrated doses, they could become fatal. However, properly-tested bioabsorbable polymers have huge potential for increased healing and more advanced operations. Going forward, these compounds could play an integral role in healthcare and quality of life.

Many thanks to our partners at Polymer Solutions for sharing this research.

Originally fracking dates back to the 1860’s, when the world was just beginning to get a flavour for gas and oil. It was a time when American civil war veteran, Col. Edward A. L. Roberts patented an “exploding torpedo” to help him extract oil and natural gas from the geological formations around Pennsylvania.

But it wasn’t until after the Second World War that fracking was truly advanced as a way of helping the extraction of natural gas. Methods were then further developed during the OPEC oil crisis of the 1970’s, as the rising cost of oil increased research in energy production and made new extraction methods economical.

But it was George P. Mitchell who took fracking to the modern level, earning the title ‘the father of fracking’ when natural gas was successfully tapped from shale deposits in Northern Texas in the 1990’s.

Today, 41 countries have the potential to make use of this resource, although only the US, Canada, Argentina and China are currently extracting shale gas on a commercial basis. The US and Canada are the world leaders in the volume produced and the technology used. Other nations with significant deposits include South Africa, India, Mexico, Ukraine and numerous countries in Europe from Poland to Austria to France.

Many of these countries are close to starting production others are still at the exploration phase, whilst others (such as the UK), face vocal public pressure to prevent production over environmental fears.

That aside, chemical company executives and investors have their eyes are on the US and Canada and the massive competitive advantage producers there are gaining as shale gas production increases. This impact has been outlined by PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) in their 2012 report ‘Shale gas: Reshaping the US chemicals industry’ when it made clear the huge difference on costs that had been made, stating, “For chemical companies, the impact of shale gas has been to decrease the costs of both raw materials and energy. The price of US natural gas declined from $12.50/MBTU in 2008 to approximately $3.00/MBTU in 2012, and prices are expected to decline further … as a result of excess inventory.”

This ‘excess inventory’, however, is not stopping expansion, with the 2014 Annual Energy Outlook by the EIA reporting that U.S. shale gas production will grow from 9.7 tcf in 2012 to 19.8 tcf in 2040.

Production is increasing, because shale gas not only provides a new energy resource, but also because it can be used as a valuable feed source for numerous chemical products. For example, a new drill set up near Charleston, South Carolina, is producing natural gas that is particularly high in ethane (up to 8% by volume). A plant built nearby ‘cracks’ the ethane by breaking it down at the molecular level, turning it into ethylene. As Kevin DiGregorio, executive director of the Chemical Alliance Zone in Charleston, says, “Ethylene is used to produce all sorts of things, from the cushions we sit on to the clothes we wear. Everything that’s not wood, or maybe brick, is made with chemicals … [of which] probably 40 to 60 percent of it is made from ethylene,” DiGregorio says. “It’s very, very important to our daily lives.”

What impact this will have on the chemicals industry is not immediately clear, as the development of wholesale shale gas production is still only 20 years old, but it seems that the effect will be significant and will vary from region to region.

Whether a country has access to shale gas or not, and what type and quality the deposits are, will effect industry leaders strategies. In general though, there are thought to be three main responses to a chemicals business, hoping to survive in a shale gas world.

1. Move closer to the shale gas supply. When as much as 70% of a chemical company’s costs are made up of raw materials and energy, companies are frequently relocating to be near a regular and cheap source of shale gas. According to the MiT Technology Review from 2011 to 2014 there were almost 200 new chemical plants and upgrades made in the US as a result of shale gas investment. This included a capital outlay of $124 billion, from firms such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and Dow Chemical.
2. Import shale gas to your plant. Whilst this maybe not the most effective method, it may be a cheaper way to stay competitive than the massive cost of relocating. Naturally, transportation costs of delivering shale gas to the process point would need to be considered, but as a recent study by Stefan Guertzgen, Global Director for Industry Solution (Marketing Chemicals) at SAP notes, “…the fact that companies like (multibillion dollar chemical producer) INEOS continue to import natural gas proves there is still an overall net gain in operating their assets and serving their markets based on shale gas feedstock.”
3. Develop new processes to stay competitive. If relocating and importing shale gas is not possible, then something else must change. If not, then competitors lower feedstock and energy costs will drive prices so low that other firms will not be able to compete.

To avoid this, innovation will be necessary. As Guertzgen explains, “Brazilian-based Braskem, one of the world’s largest producers of thermoplastic resins, has developed an ethylene value chain based on readily available bio-ethanol feedstock. Also, companies in China, as well as Sasol in South Africa, seek competitiveness by leveraging advancements in methanol-to-olefin technology.”

The effect of shale gas on the global chemical industry is so huge, that not responding to its development seems no longer to be an option. As the American Chemistry Council makes clear, “American chemistry relies on abundant, affordable natural gas as a source of energy and as a raw material, or ‘feedstock’, for countless chemical products. The relatively low price of natural gas gives U.S. manufacturers an advantage over competitors in other parts of the world that rely on a more expensive oil-based feedstock.”

But still the future is never certain, and in the world of fossil fuels, that includes supplies.

In his report “Natural Gas as a Chemical Industry Fuel and Feedstock”,  Jeffrey J. Siirola of the Eastman Chemical Company questions the future of gas, stating that “[It] Depends on how long shale gas remains plentiful and whether it is wet or dry. If plentiful and wet, then the existing US ethane-based chemical industry infrastructure will remain worldcompetitive. If plentiful but dry, new  chemistries will emerge, but based on methane steam reforming syngas.”

Either way, it seems that shale gas production may be the biggest game changer in the chemical industry in a generation. Already it is transforming businesses and whole communities in America as investment and profits increase. As PWC states, “Based on industry reports, we estimate that the US chemicals industry has invested $15 billion in ethylene production, increasing capacity by 33%. As these investments take hold, yielding more supply, the United States could become a major, global, low-cost provider of energy and feedstocks to the chemicals industry.”

Guertzgen agrees that not only will this change countries, but businesses will also win and lose based on their ability to react to the ‘shale gas revolution’. As he explains, “Chemical companies that are able to assess the changing landscape and respond with innovative technologies, processes, and products will emerge as the undisputed global leaders.”

If this is true, then the further development of shale gas around the world seems certain to happen, and the ripple effect it will have on the chemicals industry is likely to be more like a tsunami.

It is a good time to make a success of a business in the chemicals industry, where “…Global market volume for chemicals will more than double in the period through 2035.” according to global strategy consultants at Roland Berger. Increasingly, daily life relies more and more on chemicals; from those that preserve our food, dye the plates we eat from, wash the plates we have eaten from and then treat the waste food we didn’t eat. There can be few industries on which modern life depends on more. So why is it so difficult to make a success from something that everyone needs so badly?

The answers to this are manifold, but include low margins, large price fluctuations, ever stricter regulation, complex logistics chains and global competition.

As SAP SE the German business consultants made clear in a recent report, “Companies in the chemical industry are facing fierce competition as they strive to drive sustainable innovation, growth, and profitability – especially after a decade of financial struggle and consolidation. And even though the future looks bright, with the highest forecasted growth rates the industry has seen in more than 20 years, there are still immense challenges.”

To help you deal with these challenges in 500 words or less, here are 5 top tips to making a success of your chemicals business.

1. Use existing assets fully. In the chemicals industry, assets are extremely capital-intensive. To not use those assets to their fullest extent would be a foolhardy business practice. Increasingly, larger and more successful firms are rethinking their plant machinery, creating long-term plans for their replacement, development and improvement.Larger firms are also beginning to value their databases more, seeing them as assets in their own right. Accurate usage of that information can lead to new co-operations in different markets or help find cheaper suppliers from new regions.

2. Sustainability. In an industry with such small margins, it is vital to utilize sustainability to maximise profits. As chemical usage increases, finding raw materials from sustainable sources will help keep costs down. It will also assist in sales, as end users become ever more conscious of buying ‘environmentally friendly’ products.Recycling waste chemicals and by-products will also give secondary revenue streams and/or lower production costs.

3. Prepare for growth. The best chemical businesses appreciate the importance of exploring new regions and markets. They are continually looking for ways to expand, by either widening their product base (perhaps by combining core-business products with other chemicals to make new products) or by moving up or down the supply ladder.It can also be useful to consider alternative uses for your products, as this can bring in customers from previously unexpected areas.

4. Supply chain flexibility. As the chemicals market is very volatile, with frequent and sometimes seemingly erratic price changes, it is important to be able to react quickly should circumstances change.This is particularly relevant as the industry is a very global one, with suppliers and end users often continents apart. Natural and political affairs can change the situation overnight, be it a natural disaster, change in legislation or a trade embargo. Being able to quickly source from new suppliers, switch to alternative materials and use different delivery systems will enable you to stay ahead of the competition.

5. Maintain talent and knowledge. Perhaps more so than most industries, the people who make up the staff in your company are a key asset. The chemicals industry is naturally technical and frequently specialised. Knowledge gained by your team is worth developing and paying a premium for to retain, as understanding your product, your markets and your contact information of potential customers and suppliers can prove the difference in making the next deal.

Clearly these five points are a simplified guideline to a complex business. Frequently it is a good idea to watch how the more successful companies operate, and then structure a business model based on their practices.

However, as these larger firms often have economies of scale in both sales and manufacturing, the smaller business must use size to its advantage by being quicker to adapt to market changes and economic conditions. It may also allow for greater specialisation, as smaller businesses can focus on the many market niches that the industry has.

Despite all these problems and the numerous unforeseeable events that will rock the industry, there is a great deal of certainty in building a business in an industry that is certain to be needed.