Coatings World - November 2016

BASF and Avantium, a renew- able chemistry company, have formed a joint venture for the production and marketing of furandi-carboxylic acid (FDCA), which is produced from renewable resources, as well as the marketing of the new polymer polyethylenefuranoate (PEF) based on the new chemical building block FDCA.

The aim of the JV named Synvina with headquarters in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is to build up world-leading positions in FDCA and PEF. It is planned to invest a mid-three-digit million euro sum to build a reference plant with an annual capacity of up to 50,000 metric tons per year at BASF’s Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium, and to license the technology for industrial scale production. For the production of FDCA, Synvina will use the YXY process developed by Avantium which is based on fructose as renewable raw material.

Industry experts consider bio-based
FDCA to be a promising platform
chemical and a building block for vari-
ous downstream products for differ-
ent applications, the company stated.
FDCA is used for the production of
PEF, a polyester suitable for food and
beverage packaging as well as for fi-
bers for carpets and textiles. For the
packaging industry, PEF offers better
characteristics in comparison to con-
ventional plastics, such as improved
barrier properties for gases like carbon
dioxide and oxygen. It also offers a
higher mechanical strength, thus thin-
ner PEF packaging can be produced
and fewer resources are required. PEF
is suitable for foil pouches, bottles for
carbonated and non-carbonated soft
drinks, water, dairy products, still and
sports drinks and alcoholic beverages
as well as personal and home care
products. Alongside the polyester PEF,
FDCA can be processed to polyamides
for engineering plastics and fibers, to
polyurethanes for foams, coatings and
adhesives and to esters for personal
care products and lubricants.

Green Biologics Unveils
High Purity, Bio-Based
Product Brands: BioPure &
GreenInside

Green Biologics, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Green Biologics Ltd., a UK industrial biotechnology and renewable chemicals company, announced the branding and product development strategy for its high purity bio-based n-butanol and acetone, as well as associated downstream products. The company aims to market all 100 percent bio-based chemicals under the brand BioPure. Green Biologics has also registered the trademark GreenInside for co-branding opportunities with its collaboration partners, who will use the mark on a wide range of consumer and industrial products making sustainability claims based on Green Biologics’ technology.

The company aims to offer a full slate of 100 percent bio-based products both through its own manufacturing and through third-party contract manufacturing. In addition to n-butanol and acetone, Green Biologics is set to market high purity 100 percent bio-based isopropyl alcohol and a range of specialty esters of n-butanol, isopropanol and other bio-based alcohols. Through current and anticipated collaborations, the company is actively pursuing opportunities in cosmetics, food ingredients, plasticizers, monomers and specialty solvents.

Clariant Bestows Clean Tech
Award

Clariant, a global leader in spe-
cialty chemicals, presented the
CleanTech Award for outstanding
scientific achievements in the field of
“Sustainable Chemistry” as part of the
third Clariant Chemistry Day. This year,
the accolade was awarded throughout
Switzerland for the first time in col-
laboration with the University of Basel
and the Swiss Chemical Society. First
prize went to Luo Jingshan of the École
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
(EPFL) for his accomplishments in
hydrogen fuel generation as a future
energy source via solar water split-
ting. Britta Fuenfstueck, member of
the Executive Committee at Clariant,
presented the award to the winner:
“Today’s awardees achieved remark-
able results that contribute to tackling
the challenges of our society by creat-
ing product and process innovation.”
Before the award ceremony, more
than 100 students and industry rep-
resentatives took part in an event
dedicated to the exchange of informa-
tion between industry and academia.
In addition to the nominees for the
Clean Tech Award, Laura Allegra Büldt,
winner of the Chemistry Award at the
University of Base, also presented
her research results. Guest speaker
Professor Ronny Neumann from the
Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel
also gave a talk.
In addition, almost 30 other at-
tendees presented their science projects
on the theme of sustainable chemistry
with posters and presentations. At the
end, the jury named Christian Fischer
from the University of Basel as the win-
ner of the Poster Award for his work.

Explaining the idea behind the Clariant Chemistry Day, Martin Vollmer, chief technology officer at Clariant, said: “It is important to us that we actively promote knowledge sharing between students, researchers, and companies, and foster young talent with their research projects in the field of sustainable chemistry.”