Plans for a new biobased nylon 6 facility - sportstextiles: Lea SportsTextiles

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Plans for a new biobased nylon 6 facility

08/10/2025
San Diego-based biotech company Genomatica, or Geno, has announced that Japanese conglomerate Sojitz is the first official partner and investor in a future production facility for plant-based nylon 6. 

Geno has previously partnered with Italian nylon producer Aquafil, which is operating a demonstration line at its Slovenia facility since 2021. It is currently producing multi-tonnes of material and is still in development. 

One Geno technology has reached industrial scale, bio-BDO, an ingredient used to make spandex. Its biotech production method is in operations in the Eddyville, Iowa facility of Qore (a joint venture between Cargill and Helm). Key customers for this plant-derived raw material, branded Qira, are The Lycra Company and BASF. The factory is set to produce 66,000 tonnes of Qira, using corn grown primarily within 100 miles of the site.

Related stories:

Former Invista CTO backs Epoch’s plastic-eating enzymes 09/10/2025
Qore set to begin production in Iowa 16/07/2025
First plant-based nylon garment on sale from Lululemon 19/04/2023
Plant-based nylon 6 breakthrough 20/07/2022
Partners achieve bio-HMDA for nylon 6,6 01/02/2022
Lululemon invests in Genomatica to boost bio-nylon 19/08/2021
Aquafil and Genomatica team up for bio-nylon 24/01/2018
BASF to build renewable-BDO plant with Genomatica know-how 01/10/2015

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