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Ford teams up with tequila maker to produce agave-based plastic

Ford using agave to make bioplasitc

Ford has found an odd new partner in its ongoing pursuit of greener vehicles, announcing earlier this week it would be teaming up with tequila maker Jose Cuervo.

The pair has been researching the use of byproducts from harvested agave – the plant responsible for countless bad decisions and hangovers – to develop bio-plastics for manufacturing vehicle interiors and exterior components like wiring harnesses, HVAC units and storage bins.

“Initial assessments suggest the material holds great promise due to its durability and aesthetic qualities,” said the company in a press release. “Success in developing a sustainable composite could reduce vehicle weight and lower energy consumption, while paring the use of petrochemicals and the impact of vehicle production on the environment.”

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According to Ford, a typical car uses about 400 pounds of plastic.

Justin Gammage, former chief scientist at auto giant GM and the current industry liaison manager responsible for developing innovative partnerships at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) says he wasn’t surprised with the partnership.

“They were one of the first automotive companies to use bio-plastics and bio-composites in their inner products,” Gammage told Yahoo Canada Finance. “Really they should be commended for it because implementing bio-plastics in the automotive environment is extremely challenging.”

Ford currently uses eight sustainable-based materials in its vehicles ranging from soy foam to coconut fibre and rice hulls.

Gammage points out that virtually every major car company is devoting some research and development to bio-polymers but like he said, it’s no easy task.

“It’s very hard to get a bio-based polymer to meet the requirements of a typical synthetic polymer – they tend to have issues with degradation,” he explains. “And again asking them to perform to the level they need to in an automotive environment, that’s a whole other magnitude of difficulty.”

But when you get it right, says Gammage, it’s very effective, good for the environment and sustainable. Outside of the considerable challenge of creating reliable composites from organic products is creating bio-plastics to scale.

To put it in perspective, Canadian auto dealers sold a record 191,088 vehicles in June, extrapolated throughout the year with 400 pounds of plastic per car, automakers are going to need a lot of bio-plastic to keep up.

Ford bio-materials research engineer Angela Harris summed it up perfectly a few years ago in an interview with WWF about the viability of bio-polymers.

“These new bio-based materials are competing with commodity based polymers, so we need to increase their scale and the volume for them to have a real chance in the marketplace,” she said.

But Gammage is optimistic.

“I do notice a lot of research taking place in the area – at universities like UOIT, Waterloo, Toronto, McMaster and Western – they’re all looking at trying to make things work,” he says. “I think this is the tip of the iceberg.”