What does “biobased” mean?

“Biobased” means containing organic carbon of renewable origin like agricultural, plant, animal, fungi, microorganisms, marine, or forestry materials living in a natural environment in equilibrium with the atmosphere, according to the ASTM D6866 analytical standard.

Biobased materials are derived in whole or in part from biomass resources. Biobased testing by carbon-14 analysis is used to measure the amount of biomass-derived carbon as compared to its total organic carbon (TOC) or total carbon (TC) content. Since carbon-14 is only present in living or recently expired material, Carbon-14 testing using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is the most effective method to determine the amount of biobased carbon as opposed to petroleum-derived carbon in raw materials or any given end product.

Measuring Biobased Carbon

Analytical standard ASTM D6866 distinguishes carbon resulting from contemporary biomass-based inputs from those derived from fossil-based inputs. Biomass contains a well-characterized amount of Carbon-14 that is easily differentiated from other materials such as fossil fuels that do not contain any Carbon-14. Since the amount of Carbon-14 in biomass is known, a percentage of carbon from renewable sources can be calculated easily from the Total Organic Carbon in the sample.