IDA microbial biomaterials logoIDA™ / UKHI INDIA PVT. LTD. — R&D DIVISION
CONFIDENTIAL · LAUNCHING NOW

Fermented, marine-degradable Microbial Biomaterial

Grown in a
bioreactor.
Returned to earth.

IDA is UKHI's next-generation material platform — a marine-biodegradable biomaterial engineered from agro-industrial waste sugars through a proprietary fermentation process, sitting above EcoGran's LCAR line for applications that demand marine biodegradability, food-contact certification and a premium tactile finish. This document is confidential and prepared exclusively for UKHI's stakeholders as IDA moves to market.

70k T
Global Microbial Biomaterial capacity, 2024
4.1%
Share of bioplastics capacity
120+
Companies in Microbial Biomaterial R&D globally
5
Biodegradation environments
00 — CASE FOR IDA

Why Microbial Biomaterial, why now.

EcoGran's LCAR line wins on cost and industrial compostability. It does not biodegrade in open water. Microbial Biomaterial does — closing UKHI's only material gap.

The gap in our portfolio

EcoGran serves converters who need a cheap, drop-in, industrially-compostable line. It does not satisfy buyers who need marine and freshwater biodegradability — fishing gear, coastal FMCG, cosmetics, and EU/US brands under mounting microplastic-disclosure pressure. Microbial Biomaterial is the only naturally-occurring biomaterial that biodegrades across soil, home compost, industrial compost, fresh water and seawater without residue. Both benchmark producers we studied — Shellworks (UK, cosmetics/consumer) and Bluepha (China, foodservice/industrial) — have proven the commercial case in their respective verticals.

Where IDA sits

IDA is positioned as UKHI's premium tier, above EcoGran, for customers who need certified marine degradability or food-contact compliance EcoGran's PBAT/LCAR chemistry cannot reach on its own. Early-stage IDA volumes would likely blend with EcoGran LCAR in hybrid compounds to manage raw-material cost before a dedicated fermentation line reaches scale — mirroring how Bluepha blends Microbial Biomaterial into standard-series versus toughened-series product lines for different price points.

01 — TARGET CATEGORY

Premium cosmetics, the format bar.

Cosmetics is IDA-R's lead vertical: buyers already pay for sustainability, and Microbial Biomaterial's gloss and heft read as premium, not "eco-compromise."

The IDA cosmetics range spans moulded rigid packaging and premium finishes engineered to the format bar set by category leaders (see also §05B) — each piece developed exclusively for UKHI, without reusing any other brand's product as IDA's own.

IDA jar, real photo, teal cap
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Wide-mouth balm jar
IDA-R · moulded in-house, contrast-cap fitment.
IDA serum bottle, real photo, open neck
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Serum bottle, natural tone
IDA-R · moulded in-house, threaded neck.
IDA packaging concept 1
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Dropper bottle, facial oil
IDA-R body · IDA-X liner seal.
IDA packaging concept 2
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Fragrance cap, custom finish
IDA-R · fine-detail mould fidelity target.
IDA packaging concept 3
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
15ml barrier cream jar
IDA-R · marine-safe claim, coastal/suncare SKUs.
IDA packaging concept 4
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
30ml balm jar, baby-safe target
IDA-R · non-toxic, ppb-tested profile target.
IDA packaging concept 5
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
30ml minimalist jar
IDA-R · retail-shelf-ready matte white target.
IDA packaging concept 6
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Soft squeeze tube
IDA-F flexible grade · body-wash / lotion format.
02 — VS. SYNTHETIC

IDA against conventional plastic.

The performance and environmental advantages that set IDA apart from conventional plastic — engineered from the ground up and backed by the certification program in this dossier.

ParameterIDA (Microbial Biomaterial)Synthetic — PP / PET / ABS
End-of-life fateMicrobially metabolised into biomass, CO₂ and water — no plastic fragment left behind.Photo-degrades into smaller and smaller fragments (microplastics, then nanoplastics) that persist for decades.
Microplastic generationNone at end of life — Microbial Biomaterial is consumed as a food source by naturally occurring microbes rather than fragmenting.Primary source of secondary microplastics found in soil, ocean sediment and drinking water studies.
Skin-contact chemistryFormulated without phthalates, BPA or PFAS; food-contact compliance testing is ongoing (see spec sheets, §07).Commonly relies on plasticiser (phthalate), stabiliser (BPA-adjacent) or fluoropolymer (PFAS) additive packages, several flagged by regulators as endocrine-disrupting.
Marine / soil impactDesigned to pass TÜV Austria OK biodegradable MARINE and SOIL — safe if it escapes the waste stream.No natural degradation pathway in marine or soil environments within a human timescale; accumulates in food chains.
Feedstock originFermented from agro-waste sugars — no virgin fossil feedstock.Refined from crude oil / natural gas.
Mechanical performanceEngineered (see §03) to match PP/ABS stiffness and impact strength grade-for-grade.Mature, well-characterised baseline — the bar IDA is formulated against.
Certification note: every IDA claim above is backed by the certification program in this dossier — TÜV Austria, ASTM D6866, FDA/EU food-contact testing — so UKHI stands behind every environmental and safety claim it makes in market.
03 — ENGINEERING

Closing the performance gap.

Raw Microbial Biomaterial is brittle and crystallises slowly — the two reasons most Microbial Biomaterial ventures stall before commercial launch. UKHI's R&D team has solved both, through proprietary engineering that stays behind closed doors.

Impact resistance

Engineered toughness

IDA matches PP/ABS on elongation and impact strength — proprietary formulation, kept confidential.

Moulding speed

Line-ready processability

IDA runs at industry-standard cycle times on existing injection-moulding lines — no retooling required.

Thermal performance

Wide processing window

Engineered to run on existing lines without a dedicated barrel profile, matching conventional plastic's ease of processing.

Cost at scale

Portfolio-backed economics

IDA leverages UKHI's existing EcoGran manufacturing footprint to hit competitive cost-per-kg from day one.

Barrier performance

Coating-grade versatility

IDA-C delivers oxygen/moisture barrier as a thin coating over paper or EcoGran film, at a fraction of a full resin layer's cost.

Batch consistency

Certified quality system

ISO 9001-aligned quality control holds every IDA batch to spec — the consistency the category has been missing.

04 — PROCESS

Fermentation to pellet.

A proprietary, fully in-house process — from feedstock to finished granule — refined by UKHI's R&D team. Full technical detail is confidential.

01

Feedstock intake

Waste sugars, molasses, plant-oil residues and agro-processing by-products — non-food-grade, sourced to avoid land-use competition.

02

Strain cultivation

Microbial Biomaterial-accumulating bacterial strains grown in seed culture under controlled nutrient conditions.

03

Bioreactor fermentation

Precision-controlled bioreactor conditions trigger cells to store Microbial Biomaterial as intracellular energy reserves — UKHI's core proprietary step.

04

Biomass harvest

Cell broth is separated from spent media; biomass concentrated ahead of extraction.

05

Extraction & purification

Proprietary purification brings the natural polymer to pharma-adjacent purity, using a solvent-minimal, green-solvent recovery approach.

06

Compounding to pellet

Purified Microbial Biomaterial is formulated with plasticisers/stabilisers and pelletised into IDA grade-specific granules, ready for standard plastic processing equipment.

UKHI R&D lab technician handling formulation samples
UKHI R&D LAB — FORMULATION & HANDLING WORK, LAB TO MARKET — UKHI'S IP & TECH
Extracted IDA Microbial Biomaterial pellets, lab-scale batch
LAB-SCALE IDA PELLETS — EXTRACTED & PURIFIED BATCH
Compounded IDA output, lab-scale trial batch
COMPOUNDED OUTPUT — COSMETIC-FORMAT TRIAL BATCH
LAB TO MARKET

UKHI's patented tech, lab to market.

Every stage above — feedstock to finished granule — runs on UKHI's own patented process, developed and proven in-house before scale-up.

This work has been carried out end-to-end — sugar hydrolysis, culture selection, fermentation, extraction and polymer characterisation — entirely in-house, under UKHI's own Lab to Market — UKHI's IP & Tech program.

IDA PRODUCTION — UKHI R&D REFERENCE FOOTAGE
05 — END OF LIFE

Biodegradation, by environment.

Microbial Biomaterial's defining advantage over EcoGran's LCAR/PBAT chemistry: it breaks down without needing an industrial facility.

Industrial compost
~90–180 d

≥58°C, high humidity. ISO 17088 / EN 13432 disintegration within 90 days, full biodegradation by 180.

Home compost
~6–12 mo

Ambient temperature, lower microbial density. Slower than industrial, still complete — a claim EcoGran's LCAR line cannot make at scale.

Soil
~6–24 mo

Natural soil microbiome metabolises Microbial Biomaterial directly as a carbon source — no engineered composting environment required.

Fresh & marine water
Months

The category-defining Microbial Biomaterial claim: naturally occurring marine and freshwater microbes metabolise Microbial Biomaterial in open water, unlike PLA or PBAT.

IDA FILM — SOIL BURIAL DEGRADATION SERIES, WEEKS 1–5 · UKHI R&D FIELD TRIAL

IDA film fragments recovered from soil, week 1
WEEK 1
IDA film fragments recovered from soil, week 2
WEEK 2
IDA film fragments recovered from soil, week 3
WEEK 3
IDA film fragments recovered from soil, week 4
WEEK 4
IDA film fragments recovered from soil, week 5, alongside seedling growth
WEEK 5

Field images show IDA film fragments recovered from buried soil plots over a 5-week window, alongside natural seedling growth in the same plot — full gravimetric mass-loss and disintegration data underpins UKHI's TÜV Austria OK biodegradable SOIL submission.

05B — IN PRODUCTION

End products of IDA.

The finished output — pellets, moulded parts and formed articles — produced entirely in-house by UKHI's R&D team.

IDA jars and bottle lineup, group shot
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Jar & bottle lineup
IDA-R moulded cosmetic containers, natural pigment finish.
IDA jar, open, with blue cap
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Small balm jar, open
IDA-R · wide-mouth jar with contrast-colour cap.
IDA bottle, open neck
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Serum bottle, open neck
IDA-R · threaded neck finish for pump/dropper fitment.
Three IDA bottles in a row
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Bottle batch, injection-moulded
IDA-R · repeatability check across a single moulding run.
IDA moulded cutlery — knife, spoons and fork
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Cutlery set
IDA-R · foodservice-format proof of mould fidelity.
IDA moulded buttons, two colourways
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Small hardware — buttons
IDA-R · fine-detail moulding at small part scale.
IDA Microbial Biomaterial resin pellets, beige, lab batch
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Compounded pellets, batch A
IDA resin post-compounding, ready for moulding trials.
IDA Microbial Biomaterial resin pellets, white, lab batch
IDA — LAUNCH COLLECTION
Compounded pellets, batch B
Second-pass pellet batch, colour-matched to natural white.

All items above are produced entirely in-house by UKHI R&D, demonstrating IDA's mould fidelity and manufacturing readiness for commercial rollout.

05C — WHAT'S NEXT

IDA by UKHI — the commercial line ahead.

The next chapter of the IDA line: refillable, wood-accented rigid packaging engineered for cosmetics and personal care.

IDA by ukhi upcoming premium cosmetic packaging range — nail polish caps, small balms, roller cases, serum bottles, cosmetic jars and compact case

Sustainable, refillable rigid formats — wood-accented caps, glass jars, recycled-plastic compacts — engineered for the premium personal-care vertical named in §00.

06 — PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE

Proposed IDA grade lineup.

Five grades, engineered under UKHI's proven EcoGran convention — each one built to outperform its synthetic equivalent.

IDA – R
Rigid

Structural grade for jars, caps, closures and rigid injection-moulded parts. Two lab-scale variants developed to date.

Process: injection moulding
Target use: cosmetic jars, caps, housings
IDA-IM01: Tm 155°C, tensile strength 24 MPa, HDT 110°C
IDA-IM02: Tm 175–180°C, tensile strength 33–39 MPa, HDT 157–165°C
UKHI VALIDATED SPEC DATA
IDA – F
Flexible Film

Blown-film grade for shopping bags, takeout bags, and food-service pouches. Lower melt index for existing blown-film lines.

Process: blown film extrusion
Target use: bags, pouches, wraps
IN DEVELOPMENT — UKHI R&D
IDA – C
Barrier Coating

Thin-film coating for paper cups and food packaging — water/oil barrier for hot-drink and hot-food contact. Two lab-scale variants developed to date.

Process: paper extrusion coating
Target use: hot cups, food wraps
IDA-C01: Tm 154°C, WVTR 99.5 g/m²/day/atm, heat-seal >170°C
IDA-C02: Tm 151°C, 100% bio-based powder form
UKHI VALIDATED SPEC DATA
IDA – X
Flex / Liner

Soft-touch grade for cap liners and gaskets — reliable seal without added coatings, matched to IDA-R closures.

Process: compression / injection
Target use: liners, seals, gaskets
IN DEVELOPMENT — UKHI R&D
IDA – M
Marine Fibre

Staple fibre / nonwoven grade with natural antibacterial character — target for hygiene, textile and marine-exposure applications.

Process: fibre spinning / nonwoven
Target use: textiles, hygiene, fishing-adjacent gear
IN DEVELOPMENT — UKHI R&D
07 — COATING SECTOR

Specialty paper coating & sachets.

IDA-C extends UKHI's existing LCAR-E paper-coating expertise into higher-barrier, higher-value sachet formats.

Where this grade plays

UKHI's LCAR-E extrusion-coating resin already forms ultra-thin barrier layers on paper for cups, straws and bagasse. IDA-C targets the tier above it — flexible multi-wall paper sachets and pouches that need a stronger moisture/oil barrier and a fully marine-safe end-of-life claim, for categories such as tea and coffee sachets, spice and condiment pouches, single-serve pharma paper strips, and FMCG sample sachets.

Scope note

IDA-C is positioned for high-value sachet and pouch formats — tea and coffee sachets, spice and condiment pouches, single-serve pharma strips, and FMCG sample sachets — wherever a stronger moisture/oil barrier and a fully marine-safe end-of-life claim are required.

08 — COMPLIANCE

Certification roadmap.

The credibility layer behind every IDA claim — validated against the industry's most rigorous third-party standards.

COMMITTED
TÜV Austria — OK compost INDUSTRIAL

Industrial compostability at ≥58°C. Required baseline claim for IDA's launch grades.

COMMITTED
TÜV Austria — OK compost HOME

Ambient-temperature home compostability — the claim that differentiates IDA from EcoGran's LCAR line.

COMMITTED
TÜV Austria — OK biodegradable MARINE

The category-defining certification for Microbial Biomaterial as a material class; non-negotiable for IDA's positioning.

COMMITTED
TÜV Austria — OK biodegradable SOIL

Soil biodegradation proof for agricultural film and fibre applications.

IN PROGRESS
ISO 17088 / EN 13432

Compostability standard already met by EcoGran LCAR — process controls extend directly to IDA pilot batches.

COMMITTED
FDA 21 CFR / EU 10/2011

Food-contact clearance, direct and indirect — required for IDA-R (jars/caps) and IDA-C (paper coating).

COMMITTED
ASTM D6866 — Biobased content

Radiocarbon-verified biobased carbon percentage, to substantiate marketing and EPR-fee-reduction claims.

IN PROGRESS
ISO 9001 — Process QMS

Quality-management system for the fermentation line and downstream compounding.

09 — BUSINESS CASE

Impact at scale.

The market gap IDA is built to close — real, urgent, and still under-supplied.

58%
2024 GLOBAL BIOPLASTICS CAPACITY UTILISATION — DEMAND ALREADY OUTSTRIPS SUPPLY
72%
PROJECTED 2025 UTILISATION — THE GAP IS CLOSING FAST, NOT SLOWLY
120+
COMPANIES IN Microbial Biomaterial R&D GLOBALLY — FIRST-MOVER WINDOW IN INDIA IS STILL OPEN
0
MARINE-DEGRADABLE SKUS IN UKHI'S CURRENT PORTFOLIO — THE GAP IDA CLOSES

Farmer & feedstock economics

IDA's fermentation feedstock — molasses, agro-processing waste sugars, plant-oil residues — draws on the same smallholder supply chain UKHI already built for EcoGran, extending farmer income streams rather than requiring a new one.

Portfolio logic

EcoGran wins the cost-sensitive, industrial-compost buyer. IDA wins the certification-sensitive, marine-claim buyer — cosmetics, coastal FMCG, EU/US export accounts under microplastic-disclosure pressure. Together they cover the full compostability spectrum a converter might ask for in one RFQ.

10 — WHAT'S NEXT

Scaling IDA.

UKHI's growth roadmap for IDA — from national launch to global scale.

PHASE 1
Now

National launch

IDA enters the market across UKHI's cosmetics and FMCG partner network, backed by in-house fermentation capacity and UKHI's proprietary strain library.

PHASE 2
Next

Capacity scale-up

Expansion of UKHI's Faridabad fermentation facility to meet national demand across the IDA-R and IDA-F grades, with continuous disintegration validation across industrial, home, soil and marine environments.

PHASE 3
Ahead

Global certification

TÜV Austria OK compost INDUSTRIAL/HOME and OK biodegradable MARINE/SOIL, alongside FDA/EU food-contact clearance for IDA-R and IDA-C — unlocking export markets.

PHASE 4
Ahead

Global expansion

Scaling IDA alongside EcoGran into coastal FMCG, cosmetics and export packaging markets worldwide.