International. Two new initiatives in the Netherlands aim to build an open access pilot plant for the polymerization of biological monomers.
This would be an important step in the manufacture of plastics, resins and coatings from plant materials that can compete with their fossil counterparts, there are currently no pilot facilities for this process available in the Dutch R&D ecosystem.
Industry, regional bodies and research institutes see a clear need to carry out such facilities in the near future.
The catalyst for both initiatives is the Biobased Performance Materials research program, coordinated by Wageningen Food & Biobased Research. The program facilitates fundamental and applied research into new bio-based materials that can compete with their fossil counterparts and is sponsored by the Dutch government's top sector, Chemistry.
The first pilot installation, planned in Etten-Leur, focuses on the ring opening polymerization of bio-based monomers. Jan Noordegraaf (Ceo of Synbra Technology): "The realization of this pilot, adjacent to the Synbra facilities, allows the development of new copolymers that can convert new biological monomers into polymers in an infrastructure that we have always wanted to achieve with the parties in the Delta Biobased." Five larger and ten smaller companies have already indicated their desire to make use of the pilot.
The second pilot facility is planned in Emmen, at the Sustainable Polymer Innovation Campus (SPIC). The innovation cluster already has all the necessary hardware and allows us to easily link to applications, such as multifilament threads or monofilaments for 3D printing, says Gerard Nijhoving (CEO of Senbis, a company that conducts applied research in the field of polymers). "Emmen has already done a lot of research in polycondensation to improve the performance of polyester and polyamide yarns. In recent years we have received many questions about biopolymers, in particular, as they often have a polyester-like structure. As this can be difficult, we are starting a pilot polycondensation facility with a capacity of 50 to 100 kg per day."
Source: Wageningen Food & Biobased Research.
