International Coatings Scene
EUROPE
BY SEAN MILMO
EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT
MILMOCW@RODPUB.COM
Biomaterial use gains momentum
As crude oil
prices climb,
industry is
looking at
alternative
biomaterial
sources
for the
production
of paint and
coating
materials.
The use of biomaterials by coatings producers and their ingredient sup- pliers is gathering pace in Europe as
manufacturers, brand owners and retail
chains seek a reduced reliance on petro-chemical-derived chemicals and lower carbon footprints for products.
On current trends, the share of biomaterials in coatings and other supply chains dominated by fossil-based chemicals should
increase rapidly over the next 5-10 years.
“Biomass is becoming an alternative feedstock to crude oil but for the moment our
target is not to replace crude oil but to
increase our share of certain markets with
biomaterials which are competitive in terms
of their cost and technology,” said
Christophe Rupp-Dahlem, programs director for vegetable-based chemistry at
Roquette, a leading global producer of
starches and starch derivatives which supplies biomaterials for coatings producers.
He was speaking during a press visit to
the company’s main site at Lestrem, north-west France, organized by Roquette and
DSM of the Netherlands with whom it has a
joint venture for developing and producing
corn-derived succinic acid, a polyester building block for the coatings and other sectors.
Roquette, which is one of the world’s
biggest producers of bio-based polyols,
believes that in France with its large agricultural sector renewable materials will
double their share of industrial raw material to 15 percent by 2017.
DSM, which has recently moved out of petrochemicals production to become a leading pioneer in Europe of industrial or white biotechnology, says that in the long term plant-based
materials will become the primary feedstock
source for manufactured products.
The company, which through its DSM
NeoResins business is a major supplier of resins
to the coatings sector, believes that coatings and
other sectors like pharmaceuticals and medical
devices, automobiles, personal care products
and electrical equipment will be the major end-
markets for biomaterials.