high-quality specialty fluids or emulsions
in Burghausen or at other sites. “The
added value that we can achieve here is
tremendous,” emphasized Kowitz. “By
expanding our production plant for
functional high-performance fluids, we
are laying another cornerstone for the
sustainable growth of our business.”
Elevance Partner
Collaborations Advance
Second-Generation
Biorefinery Technology
In collaboration with several partners, including the special contribution of Versalis
under a strategic partnership started in
early 2014, Elevance Renewable Sciences,
Inc. — a high-growth company that creates novel specialty chemicals from natural oils — has successfully completed
scale-up of a second-generation biorefinery technology of the company’s olefin
metathesis technology, utilizing ethylene
and natural oil feedstocks.
The ethenolysis process advancement
represents an important milestone for the
development of a second-generation metathesis technology — the first of its kind
— enabling an enhanced product portfolio from natural oils metathesis.
Catalysts produced by XiMo AG
were used at Soneas’ manufacturing facility in Budapest, Hungary. The run represented a scale up of 40,000 times what
had been previously demonstrated in the
laboratory and the largest ever usage of
“Schrock” (Molybdenum/Tungsten) catalysts for metathesis with ethylene and a
renewable oil.
“This significant accomplishment ad-
vances the interests of several of our part-
ners and demonstrates the advantages of
working together,” said Mel Luetkens,
COO at Elevance. “Elevance is pleased
to be at the center of this collaboration
and to be advancing these important de-
velopments for our partners and us. It is
another validation of Elevance’s technol-
ogy and the value that we bring to our
partner relationships.”
XiMo AG, a company focused on the
development and application of propri-
etary metathesis catalysts, and Elevance
began working together in January 2011,
carrying out successful demonstrations
that make the Molybdenum- and
Tungsten- catalyzed metathesis of natu-
ral oil esters commercially competitive.
Soneas, formerly known as Ubichem
Pharma Manufacturing, is a professional
chemical service provider with pilot and
commercial scale manufacturing facilities.
The advancement was partially funded
by and supports a wider strategic partner-
ship between Versalis, the chemical sub-
sidiary of Eni, and Elevance that includes
the joint development of Elevance’s ethe-
nolysis technology. This takes advantage
of Versalis’ extensive skills in catalysis
process development and engineering
design and Elevance’s proprietary know-
how regarding metathesis and associated
engineering with the use of vegetable oils
in producing specialty chemicals for pre-
mium applications. Meanwhile, Versalis
and Elevance have also been collaborat-
ing for the implementation at the Versalis
Porto Marghera site of a biorefinery based
on Elevance proprietary technology of
natural oils’ metathesis with 1-butene.
“We strongly believe in the potential
of metathesis technology since it is a mild
reaction that does not destroy the molecular complexity of vegetable feedstocks,
the highest value of them,” said Sergio
Lombardini, Director of Research &
Innovation Technology at Versalis. “This
is why even in the engineering phase for a
butene-1 metathesis plant, we are looking
at ethylene as an alternative co-feedstock
aiming to target an even higher value of
products portfolio.”
Evonik’s Polyamide 12
Wins European Plastics
Innovation Award
The Resource Efficiency Segment of the
Essen-based Evonik Group received the
European Plastics Innovation Award in
the “Material Innovation” category for its
use of polyamide 12 (PA 12) VESTAMID
NRG in high-pressure gas pipelines.
European Plastics Converters (EuPC),
the Association of Plastics Manufacturers
Engineers (SPE) had organized the joint
award for the first time in eight differ-
ent categories. It recognizes companies
that have attracted public attention with
particularly innovative developments in
plastics technology.
VESTAMID NRG offers an
outstanding property profile
for high-pressure pipelines and
enables gas utilities to effectively build
up their subterranean pipeline networks
without any concern about losses in
throughput performance. A number of
installations, including in the U.S., Brazil,
Mexico and Indonesia, have demonstrated that pipes made of PA 12 allow for significant savings in labor and installation
cost compared to steel.
In its rationale for the award, the jury,
made up of representatives from universities, politics, NGOs and the media,
highlighted Evonik’s decade-long inten-
sive research that resulted in gas pipe
materials for the high-pressure segment
up to 18 bar and their installation, along
with the company’s efforts to support
the requisite approvals. The most recent
step in the safety-relevant authorization
of the material is its inclusion in the test
specification by the German Association
of Gas and Water (DVGW) of December
2015, entitled “Plastic piping systems in
gas and water distribution; GW335-A6:
Pipes made of PA-U 160 and PA-U 180
and associated fittings and joints.”
“This test specification will pave the
way for installations in Germany,” says
Markus Hartmann, Head of the Oil &
Gas segment, who oversees the Evonik
business with VESTAMID NRG. “Our
experiences with installations involving
our coordinated system of straight and
rolled-up pipes from 32 to 160 mm made
of VESTAMID NRG and the associated
fittings have been very good so far.”
The flexible selection of length–es-
pecially over extended installation sec-
tions–saves time and cost because fewer
welding seams are required. Installers can
use the same equipment as for PE pipes.
In addition, no anti-corrosive treatment is
required and the material enables trench-
less installation, which also lowers cost.
VESTAMID has been used by renowned manufacturers for over 50 years.
While the first applications included automotive duct systems, the continuous
advancement of the material eventually
led to its use in large-volume pipes for oil
and gas production and distribution.CW
