Well-known outdoor clothing brand Patagonia has incorporated a plant-based material produced using technology from Madison-based Virent into a new article of clothing, according to a news release. The new SugarDown Hoody is Patagonia’s first fully biobased jacket, manufactured using Virent’s 100% plant-based paraxylene called BioForm PX.
Using U.S.-grown sugar from the sugarcane fields of Louisiana, Virent produced the paraxylene — a critical component of the SugarDown Hoody’s polyester shell and liner — and a component of polyester that is typically derived from crude oil. The only difference in this case is that the paraxylene was derived directly from plants.
The result is a biobased polyester with the same versatility and performance as its petroleum counterpart, but it is produced with much lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Virent uses its patented BioForming technology to create fuels and chemicals from a wide range of naturally occurring, renewable resources. Virent’s patented chemistry converts biobased carbohydrate feedstocks into products molecularly identical to those made from petroleum. Virent’s technology can produce a range of fuel products, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, as well as chemicals used for plastics, fibers, and films.
