PDC News #8

We participated at Bio Innovations Europe 2026 with a booth to showcase our process design expertise and our Prosyn.ai software, demonstrating how we support companies in accelerating and de-risking the scale-up of biobased technologies.

Our colleague Amin Delparish also took part in a panel discussion on “From Lab to Factory: Building Blocks for a Successful Biomanufacturing Scale-Up,” where he shared our perspective on the importance of early industrial process design, realistic techno-economic assumptions, process robustness, and strong collaboration across the value chain to successfully move biomanufacturing innovations from pilot scale to commercial production.

Dopa Plant Pots replaces plastic plant pots with ones made from recycled paper pulp, treated with a biological resin to make them water-resistant and durable. They’re fully biodegradable and can even be cracked open and planted directly into the soil, leaving zero waste.

The pots offer strong capillary action for efficient watering, fit existing industrial growing equipment without extra investment, and are retail-ready with a barcode. Several major retailers have already adopted them, with consumers willing to pay a small premium for the sustainable alternative.

PDC has been involved with Plantics since 2017. As shareholder of the scale-up, we’ve been involved in many aspects of the company. Plantics biomaterials are based on a revolutionary invention by the University of Amsterdam that resulted in the first 100% bio-based thermoset resins in the world for new circular composites, foams, and coatings. Plantics won the “Renewable Material of the Year 2021” Innovation Award!

We’ve entered a strategic cooperation with Sinko ID, the Port of Rotterdam’s industrial innovation platform, and we’re excited about what it opens up.

Sinko ID is building an open innovation ecosystem where start-ups, scale-ups, research institutions, and established industry come together to develop and test next-generation technologies. The gap they’re looking to close is the one between a working pilot and full industrial deployment. That’s exactly where our process design and techno-economic expertise comes in.

The focus areas will be familiar: hydrogen, circular feedstocks, decarbonization, and sustainable energy. What’s new is the direct connection to a growing pipeline of emerging technologies and the companies trying to scale them, in Rotterdam and beyond.

We are PDC. We are an international team of conceptual process design experts with a strong reputation in the industry. Our mission is to help create a lower carbon footprint and a more sustainable process industry.
As a process design innovator with close to 40 years of experience, PDC understands how to support and lead teams through the uncertainties of the conceptual process design flow to reach innovative solutions. The methods we share have, over the years, helped us quickly and effectively design solutions to a wide range of challenges.