Dama BioPlastics Forges Carbon Neutral Future with Swedish Automaker Polestar

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

On this week’s hemp podcast, Lancaster Farming talks with Cole Gibbs and Adam Dietrich from Colorado-based Dama BioPlastics.

The company specializes in biomaterials and bioplastics made from upcycled agricultural plant waste, including industrial hemp which is abundant in Colorado’s flourishing hemp and cannabis industries.

Dietrich, Dama’s director of material science, said they’re not using industrial hemp exclusively, but of all the plant waste, “it’s one of the best that we’ve seen,” and the carbon makeup of the hemp waste “is quite high, 40% to 45%,” he said.

“Then we convert that material into usable drop-in replacements for automotive plastics (and) the construction industries,” said founder and CEO Gibbs.

One of the products the company makes is called Dama Black, a bio-based replacement for carbon black, a material widely used in petroleum-based plastics.

“Carbon black is a fossil fuel byproduct,” Gibbs said. “Basically, it’s the soot inside the chimneys when they’re burning material that gets added to plastics to generate the black colorant and UV protection.”

Carbon black is ubiquitous — from tires to toys, electronics to car parts. It is in nearly every black plastic in use today, Gibbs said.

Because Dama Black is a carbon negative bio-based material, it is very attractive to automakers seeking to de-carbonize their vehicles and production lines.

One such company is Swedish automaker Polestar, which has set ambitious climate-carbon goals for its fleet of electric cars.

Polestar is partnering with Dama BioPlastics for the Polestar 0 Project which aims to eliminate — not just reduce — all greenhouse gas emissions from every aspect of production by 2030.

Gibbs said Dama BioPlastics is one of the only exclusive North American partners “for the Polestar 0 project for all of their electric vehicles going forward.”

Gibbs said Dama Black will be used in everything that would normally be used in traditional petroleum plastic, from interior pieces and window switches to dashboards and exterior trim.

“We’re even looking into the automotive tires and the rubber seal, the gear around the door frames and everything,” he said.

Gibbs said his company is also working with the Polestar team “to eliminate the massive volume of different types of polymers that are used in vehicles” which, he said, can number between 40 and 50 different materials.

“We want to shrink that down into a smaller number, so it’s more easily recycled,” he said.