DuPont Industrial Biosciences (DuPont) and Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) announced a new breakthrough process
with the potential to expand the materials landscape in the 21st century with exciting and truly novel, high-performance
renewable materials, the companies announced. The technology has applications in packaging, textiles, engineering
plastics and many other industries.
The companies have developed a
method for producing furan dicarboxylic methyl ester (FDME) from fructose.
FDME is a high-purity derivative of fu-randicarboxylic acid (FDCA), one of the
12 building blocks identified by the U.S.
Department of Energy that can be converted into a number of high-value, biobased chemicals or materials that can
deliver high performance in a number of
applications. It has long been sought-after and researched, but has not yet been
available at commercial scale and at reasonable cost. The new FDME technology is a more efficient and simple process
than traditional conversion approaches
and results in higher yields, lower energy
usage and lower capital expenditures.
This partnership brings together
ADM’s world-leading expertise in fructose production, and carbohydrate
chemistry with DuPont’s biotechnology,
chemistry, materials and applications expertise, all backed by a strong joint intel-lectual-property portfolio.
One of the first polymers under development utilizing FDME is polytrimeth-ylene furandicarboxylate (PTF), a novel
polyester also made from DuPont’s proprietary Bio-PDO (1,3-propanediol). PTF
is a 100-percent renewable and recyclable
polymer that, when used to make bottles
and other beverage packages, substantially improves gas-barrier properties compared to other polyesters. This makes
PTF a great choice for customers in the
beverage packaging industry looking to
improve the shelf life of their products.
ADM and DuPont are taking the initial step in the process of bringing FDME
to market by moving forward on the
scale-up phase of the project. The two
companies are planning to build an integrated 60 ton-per-year demonstration
plant in Decatur, Illinois.
Ashland Opens New
Application Lab in Delaware
Ashland is transforming its technical
and analytical services for the paint and
coatings industry by adding a dedicated
laboratory to its campus in Wilmington,
Delaware. The new 2,000-square-foot
facility complements the company’s existing 8,000-square-foot Coatings Center
of Excellence on the site. Combined, the
facilities provide paint formulators with
expansive resources for testing new or
modified formulations, understanding
consumer preferences, and optimizing
their products for success.
Expanded access to Ashland’s patent-pending Application Reader Technology
(ART) device will be a major attraction
for global customers. The ART device
interprets how painters apply paint and
converts that information into objective,
actionable data. This information can
be used to tailor formulations to specific
customer preferences for paint feel. There
are two ART devices on site.
Evonik Strengthens its
German Sites
Evonik recently strengthened its German
sites with new production plants, mod-
ernized infrastructure facilities and in-
volvement in research and development.
According to a recent projection, the
company invested more than €400 mil-
lion in its domestic production plants.
Approximately two-thirds of the funds
was divided among Evonik’s five-largest
sites in Germany: Marl (hundreds of mil-
lions of euros), Hanau, Essen, Darmstadt,
and Wesseling (tens of millions of euros
at each site).
Evonik is planning further large-scale
projects in Germany. One of these is the
construction of a new plant for produc-
tion of specialty copolyesters in Witten by
2018 with an investment in the double-
digit million euro range. As part of the
global production initiative for specialty
silicones, Evonik intends to invest in pro-
duction for these products in Essen once
again. A new silane research center is cur-
rently being built in Rheinfelden that is
slated to be completed in 2016.
In the 2014 financial year, €2.8 bil-
lion or 22 percent of consolidated sales
was generated in Germany. The compa-
ny employs around 21,000 people in its
home country.
In Marl, Evonik’s largest site world-
wide with a workforce of close to 7,000,
a production facility for C4-based raw
materials was completed in 2015. In
Essen, the company put a new manufac-
turing plant for polymeric dispersants
into operation and expanded a plant in
which specialty silicones are produced.
Many infrastructure projects were
also completed at Evonik’s German sites
in 2015. In Marl, a new canal bridge for
rail transportation was inaugurated, a
warehouse for hazardous materials was
opened and a new coal conveyor was put
into operation. For next year, Evonik is
planning the start-up of a new gas and
steam turbine plant in Marl.
In Darmstadt a new control center with a situation center for the
Darmstadt/Weiterstadt and Worms sites
was opened on the factory premises. In
Wesseling, the plant entrance and gate
system at the Bonn-Beuel section of the
plant were rehabilitated, creating more
space for waiting trucks and reducing
the traffic backlog. There are plans to
renovate the workshops and upgrade
the fire protection equipment in 2016.
The expansion of the central warehouse
in Essen through the addition of 1,300
square meters of space is also expected
to be finished next year. CW
DuPont Industrial Biosciences and ADM
Announce Breakthrough Platform Technology
