New Plastics SIRA shows path to circularity

In response to the European Commission's recent Plastics Strategy, SusChem and its partners have issued a new report outlining a 'Plastics Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda in a Circular Economy'. This report identifies the challenges to plastics circularity and defines the types of solutions needed to address them. Future research is required in three main areas: Circularity by design, recycling and alternative feedstock.

Commenting on the release of the report, SusChem Chairman and Covestro CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann said:

“The Plastics industry is committed to increase the resource efficiency of its production processes and to face the challenge of closing the circularity loop. The new Research and Innovation Agenda gives fresh impetus on the strongest way to drive progress along plastics value chains by means of collaboration.”

Analysis

The analysis from this new report has helped to identify priorities, projects and the level of investment needed to achieve full circularity of plastics. SusChem and its partners – Cefic, PlasticsEurope, European Plastics Converters (EuPC) and the European Composites, Plastics and Polymer Processing Platform (ECP4) – will use this report as their main input to EU innovation policy on the circularity of plastics.

It is hoped that this document will inspire an increase in the number of collaborative projects as well as increasing European and member states support for a full implementation of the solutions proposed.

The document was developed using input from experts involved in the plastics value chain; principally from SusChem, the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), the European Composites, Plastics and Polymer Processing Platform (ECP4), the European Plastics Converters (EuPC), and PlasticsEurope.

You can download the full report here.

EU plastics sector

There are around 60 000 companies in the European plastic industry, most of them SMEs, employing over 1.5 million people and generating a turnover close to EUR 350 billion in 2016.

Thanks to their versatility and high resource efficiency, plastics have enabled innovation in many other sectors allowing the development of products and solutions in strategic areas (e.g., higher protection in packaging, insulation in building & construction, lightweight for transportation, societal wellbeing brought by renewable energy and medical devices) that could not exist today without these materials. A full plastics circularity has the potential to contribute to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, resource efficiency and job creation (European Circular Economy objectives).

Report partners

The European Chemical Industry Council - Cefic is a committed partner to EU policymakers, facilitating dialogue with industry and sharing broad-based expertise. Cefic represents large, medium and small chemical companies across Europe, which directly provide 1.2 million jobs and account for 14.7% of world chemical production. Based in Brussels since its founding in 1972, Cefic interacts on behalf of its members with international and EU institutions, non-governmental organisations, the international media, and other stakeholders.

PlasticsEurope is one of the leading European trade associations with centres in Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan and Paris. The association networks with European and national plastics associations and has more than 100 member companies that produce over 90% of all polymers across the EU28 member states plus Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. 

European Plastics Converters (EuPC) is the EU-level trade association, based in Brussels, representing more than 50 000 companies in Europe, which produce over 50 million tonnes of plastic products every year. Plastics converters (sometimes called "Processors") are the heart of the plastics industry. They manufacture plastics semi-finished and finished products for an extremely wide range of industrial and consumer markets - the automotive electrical and electronic, packaging, construction and healthcare industries, to name but a few. 

The European Composites, Plastics and Polymer Processing Platform (ECP4) is an industry-driven collaboration that unites 25 members from 13 countries amongst the top-level European research institutions, regional plastic clusters, and EU-level industrial organisations of plastics and composites converters. ECP4 brings innovation partners together to identify opportunities for collaborative research.

KETs Impact: Self-assembling polymers enable efficient semiconductor fab

The recent SusChem White paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’ included a number of success stories highlighting publicly funded innovation involving KETs and the SusChem News blog is featuring a selection of these fruitful 'SusChem inspired' initiatives.

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Sustainable chemistry is essential to the technological advance of KETs including advanced materials, advanced manufacturing technologies, industrial biotechnology, micro and nanoelectronics, nanotechnology and photonics. SusChem's key enabling technologies provide the critical building blocks for the solutions needed to achieve a sustainable low carbon circular economy. You can find out more here.

Our ninth KETs success story highlights PLACYD, a FP7 project funded via the Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership (ECSEL) Joint Undertaking, and led by Arkema to establish a dedicated material manufacturing facility to produce block copolymers meeting the rigorous standards required for use in industry as nanolithographic templates for electronics and semiconductors. PLACYD brought together leading researchers and industries to allow for the first time the integration of synthesis through to wafer scale production and system/device characterisation developing an industrial solution including all key technologies including Materials, Metrology, Integration Processes, and Design tools.

Pilot Line for Self-Assembly Copolymers Delivery

A disruptive technology breakthrough strengthened EU leadership in semiconductors

Public funding aligned an eco-innovation system. Synergies enabled a breakthrough development

The semiconductor industry economy relies on geometrical scaling of transistors to insure performances improvement, power consumption reduction and cost per transistor reduction. Therefore, the well-known Moore’s law, relating to the reduction of devices’ critical dimensions by a factor of two every 18 months, has been driving the semiconductor roadmap. Up to now, devices scaling has been enabled by continuous improvements of optical lithography. Directed Self Assembly (DSA) lithography is a disruptive patterning technology that no longer relies on optics but on the polymer’s characteristics (composition and molecular weight). In DSA technology, the pattern is included within the material as the molecular weight defines the critical dimensions and the pitch the composition of the pattern.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved? 

PLACYD project relied on a strong consortium gathering companies and academic laboratories that covered the full eco innovation system and all necessary skills from material to end-users including process and equipment manufacturers. The success of the project was established through synergies and complementarities of the partners along the value chain.

In DSA technology “the pitch is in the bottle”, the polymer and resists quality and reproducibility were key to the success of the technology. Therefore, specific efforts in developing new processes as well as new metrology techniques have been carried out leading to excellent performance and the state of the art in this sector. The metallic contamination of the resist is bellow 10ppb for all metals, the organic purity of the polymer is greater than 99.9% thanks to a unique proprietary technique that allows to discriminate homopolymers from copolymers and the copolymer dispersity has been reduced to less than 1.05.

On the patterning quality aspect, CEA-Leti developed new integration schemes that allows a wide range of configurations while insuring optimum pattern performances. 

Impact

• Increasing European leadership in microelectronics and more specifically in lithography both in terms of academic recognition (more than 60 papers and conferences), Intellectual Property position (i.e. more than 25 patent families were applied for within the project, half of them are already public) and in terms of industrial leadership.
• Commercial products have been launched based on PLACYD results. On the material side, ARKEMA launches its Nanostrength EO material suite that includes a full range of DSA resists for both lamellar and cylindrical patterns ranging from 20 nm to 50 nm pitches. On the design side, project partner MENTOR commercialises the DSA module within its EDA CALIBRE software suite. 

In summary, PLACYD allowed the development of a full DSA solution that covers all key axes of the technology (material, process, metrology and design) strengthening European leadership in semiconductor technology and demonstrating the compatibility of DSA with manufacturing requirements. Moreover, commercial products have been derived from PLACYD developments: the DSA material suite by ARKEMA and DSA software module by MENTOR.

More information

PLACYD - Pilot Line For Self Assembly Copolymer Delivery (FP7 / ECSEL JU GA 621277)

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

KETs Impact: 3D-printing for on-demand production

The recent SusChem White paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’ included a number of success stories highlighting publicly funded innovation involving KETs and the SusChem News blog is featuring a selection of these fruitful 'SusChem inspired' initiatives.

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Sustainable chemistry is essential to the technological advance of KETs including advanced materials, advanced manufacturing technologies, industrial biotechnology, micro and nanoelectronics, nanotechnology and photonics. SusChem's key enabling technologies provide the critical building blocks for the solutions needed to achieve a sustainable low carbon circular economy. You can find out more here.

The sixth success story in this summer series features a project that developed a successful business model based on rapid, on-demand manufacture of individual spare parts. Exploitation should significantly reduce warehouse stock and associated costs: DIRECTSPARE. Rapid manufacturing technologies, such as 3D-printing (aka Additive manufacturing), can enable fast manufacture of often-complex parts. 

3D-Printing polymer materials

Technology breakthroughs enabled the creation of new business models, investments and jobs

For Evonik DIRECTSPARE was an important project within a longer period of research, development and innovation concerning material for additive manufacturing. Without EU public funding, this project would not have taken place. This would have extended the time to market considerably, resulting in a high risk of being passed by competitors from outside the EU. 

Evonik has performed R&D on polymer materials for 3D-printing for about 20 years and is now commercially producing its first 3D-printing materials. A part of the R&D was done within the EU-Project DIRECTSPARE. A growing quantity of product types in every market and every sector of industry require large warehouses to keep stock for spare parts, with corresponding high costs and complex logistics. This emerging problem is caused by continuously decreasing product lifetime, decreasing time-to-market and increasing regulatory affairs. DIRECTSPARE aimed to find a solution using additive manufacturing (AM) technology, enabling economically viable, and on demand manufacturing of spare parts. 

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved? 

The project consortium consisted of technology providers, engineering companies, equipment producers, material producers, manufacturers, users, management consultants and academia. The DIRECTSPARE project has delivered several business models that allow SMEs to provide local services. Possibilities and challenges for obtaining cost reduction on stocks and warehousing have been identified. The project also learned that to obtain waste reduction and environmental benefits, a life cycle analysis approach needs to be used. One demonstrator part indeed proved that quality improvement, based on use information, can be achieved resulting in lower costs and better margins.

The objective of the DIRECTSPARE business model was for manufacturers to rapidly produce only those spare parts that are required, at a location close to the equipment that needs to be repaired. And also to improve the quality of the spare parts along the way.

The project analysed seven demonstrator parts. The functional and material requirements and the cost model of the original part were taken as the point of departure or baseline. The project team analysed the possibilities to manufacture similar parts using AM. The design, engineering aspects, material selection, production methods, quality issues and business economics of all of these parts were taken into consideration. 

Impact

The project delivered several breakthrough innovations on materials, engineering, process management and quality management. Three viable business models were developed. DIRECTSPARE created a significant networking platform for further development of new 3D-printing powders at Evonik. In February 2018 a production plant for polyamide 12 (PA 12) high performance powders, mainly for the additive manufacturing market became operational in Marl, Germany. The PA 12 material is used in automotive and lightweight design as well as in oil and gas pipelines. In addition to current applications in the automotive sector, Evonik is also very well positioned for the future production of hybrid and electric vehicles. Furthermore, the material is used in the medical sector and in 3D-printing. The investment in a new polyamide production plant secured and created around 10 new jobs.

More information
DIRECTSPARE – ‘Strengthening the industries’ competitive position by the development of a logistical and technological system for “high performance spare parts” that is based on on-demand production’ (FP7 GA 213424)

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

European Polymer Federation Congress, Lyon, July 2017

The 16th European Polymer Federation Congress (EPF 2017) takes place in Lyon from 2-7 July 2017. The Congress promises to be an exceptional rendezvous for all polymer scientists and engineers belonging to universities, institutions, and companies from around the World. The Congress theme is ‘From last trends in polymer science to cutting-edge industrial innovations’. 

With invited plenary talks and some 40 keynote presentations given by renowned speakers from leading international teams EPF 2017 will present the latest trends, results, and applications for polymers and polymer science.

With the highly relevant selected topic areas and the anticipated high participation from all areas of the polymer science world and related fields, the EPF 2017 congress will be an important place for inspiring international and interdisciplinary exchanges at the forefront of polymer science and technology. The EPF 2017 Congress aspires to be the place to identify the hottest topics in polymer science and the latest applications of polymers, to meet all the polymer community, to discuss,  and design new collaborations, … and to discover Lyon as well!

The EPF 2017 Congress topics include:

• Macromolecular Chemistry
• Polymerisation Processes
• Physics of Polymers & Polymer Materials
• Polymer Characterisation Methods
• Modelling & Simulation

Sessions will also cover Polymers as Answers to Societal Issues including topics such as Energy, Transport and Mobility, Resources and Environment, Global Health, Information Society, Polymers and the Industry of the Future

On Tuesday 4 July, EPF 2017 will also be hosting , the second Australian-European Workshop that will illustrate connections, interactions and collaborations between European and Australian polymer researchers.

The extensive list of plenary speakers for EPF 2017 includes Prof. Jean-Marie Lehen, Université Strasbourg; Dr. Floryan De Campo, Head of Technology Specialty Polymers Solvay Company; Prof. Emmanuel Giannelis, Cornell University; Prof. Gaetano Guerra, Università degli Studi di Salerno; Prof. Laura Kiessling, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Prof. Joao Mano, University of Aveiro; Prof. Rolf Mulhaupt, Freiburg University; Prof. Anthony Ryan, Sheffield University; and Dr. Søren Kristiansen, LEGO Group Sustainable Materials.

Get involved!
All participants are invited to submit abstracts for oral or poster presentations. Submitted abstracts will be peer reviewed for their acceptance by the International Advisory Board and the Organising Committee. If the organisers cannot accept an oral presentation, presenters will be invited to present their research via a poster presentation.

Online registration and abstract submission are open now, but be quick as the deadline for abstract submission for an oral presentation is 31 January and notification of acceptance of the abstract is 15 March. The deadline for abstract submission for a ‘last-minute’ poster presentation is 31 March.

Find out more on the EPF 2017 website. For further details contact the EPF 2017 Congress Secretariat via email.

Premiere for a New Raw Material: CO2

Today (17 June) Covestro has opened a new production plant in Dormagen, Germany that uses an innovative process that will help cut the use of fossil fuel based feedstock by partially replacing it with carbon dioxide (CO2). For the first time, Covestro is using CO2 to produce plastics on an industrial scale. The production plant for this innovative foam component made with 20% CO2 is at Covestro's Dormagen site near Cologne in Germany. The new process saves a proportional amount of the traditional oil-based raw material, thus making a contribution to sustainability that Covestro believes offers considerable potential. 

SusChem is also supporting research and innovation into the further utilisation of CO2 as a valuable feedstock for chemicals and fuels as part of a broad approach to enabling the circular economy and industrial symbiosis. The use of CO2 as a renewable feedstock features in SusChem's recent Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) and was discussed at our Stakeholder meeting on 16 June. 

SusChem believes that the utilisation of CO2 as a feedstock by the European chemical industry could be a key solution to reducing use of fossil fuels, reducing the EU’s dependence on imports of fossil resources and improving the security of supply of carbon feedstock. Exploiting sustainable carbon resources, such biomass and CO2 will enable production of more sustainable chemicals and materials with lower net CO2 emissions. 

This shift will result in reduced utilisation of fossil resources, and take industry a step closer to a true circular economy.

“We have to change the way we look at CO2, and we will. Using it as an alternative source of raw materials is a solution to some of the biggest challenges of our time – finding a replacement for finite fossil resources such as oil and gas and closing material cycles. Thanks to our innovative process and the launch of our production operations in Dormagen, we see ourselves as a pioneer in this area – true to our vision ‘To make the world a brighter place’,” said Covestro CEO Patrick Thomas at the opening ceremony. 

Long-term perspective

“This method of using carbon dioxide as a raw material is an important step as we move toward a sustainable future. The German Federal government is promoting the use of CO2 as a raw material in order to expand the chemical industry’s raw materials basis and open new avenues to sustainability,” emphasised Thomas Rachel, Parliamentary State Secretary from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The German government supported Covestro’s technology financially in the research and development phase.

Professor Ernst Schmachtenberg, Rector of RWTH Aachen University, added: “Making efficient use of the carbon dioxide molecule, which is normally slow to react, is a real scientific and technical challenge. We have made a breakthrough by combining application-centric basic research with research-based industrial practices.”

Covestro scientists worked hand-in-hand with experts from the CAT Catalytic Center in Aachen – a research institute operated jointly with RWTH – to find the right catalyst that would make the chemical reaction with CO2 possible. A team under researcher Dr. Christoph Guertler (pictured left) discovered the right catalyst to enable the use of CO2 for plastics production.

For mattresses and upholstery

In Dormagen, Covestro is now using carbon from CO2 to manufacture a new type of polyol. These are core building blocks for polyurethane foam – a versatile material that is used in many industries around the world and that we encounter throughout our daily lives. The carbon dioxide is chemically bound into the material.

The company has invested some EUR 15 million in the new plant, which has an annual production capacity of 5 000 metric tons. The CO2 used is a waste product from a neighbouring chemical company - a great example of the sort of value chains that will be the basis of a future circular economy. 

The new CO2-based polyol has been engineered initially for flexible polyurethane foam intended for use in mattresses and upholstered furniture. In terms of quality, the foam achieves at least the same high standards as conventional material produced using only petrochemical raw materials. 

Environmentally friendly processes

By eliminating the use of crude oil and saving the energy otherwise used to process that oil, the method is more environmentally friendly than conventional production processes. Thanks to the catalyst and the considerable energy contained in the remaining content of petrochemical raw materials, no additional energy needs to be expended to make the low-reactivity CO2 react.

If the new CO2-based products are received as warmly as is hoped, Covestro can envisage significant production expansion. In addition to flexible foam, the company is also working on manufacturing many other plastics with carbon dioxide. Its vision is to one day largely dispense with crude oil in plastics production.

You can read more about the opening of the plant and the Covestro DREAM process here. 

Image credit: All images used in this article are (c) Covestro

Wanted: Ideas for re-using CO2

The Climate-KIC flagship programme EnCO2re (Enabling CO2 re-use) working for sustainable production and circular economy has launched its first open call for proposals to the public. This call is aimed at projects that will begin in September (or earlier) and produce meaningful results within 2016. The selection process is two part, but to take part you need to be quick as the first submission deadline is 27 May.

EnCO2re will add new workstreams in the second half of 2016 and is looking for:

• Projects related to any element of the CO2 value chain, from capture to conversion, and logistics
• Organisations that bring industrial and/or start-up perspectives with pathways to commercialisation
• Technologies and demonstrations for CO2-based products, especially intermediates and polymers
• Business-model innovations that support the development of a CO2 re-use value chain
• Other innovations, including incentives, that advance progress toward large-scale re-use of CO2

Two phase
The call is structured in two phases. The first phase requests a short Expression of Interest using a common template by 27 May.  In the EnCO2re Call profile you can find more details on the call.  You will find some help and guidelines for completing the EoI here.  Successful ideas that meet the call interests and requirements will be invited soon after 10 June to submit a full proposal by 1 July.

Because the programme is an open innovation programme and would like to be as inclusive as possible, all parties interested in joining enCO2re are urged to submit an EoI, even if they do not have a project that can begin in 2016.  All submissions should be emailed to Ted Grozier at Climate-KIC.

About EnCO2re
EnCO2re is an innovation and market development programme for CO2 re-use. Their vision is a balanced and prosperous market for re-used CO2, beginning with a focus on polymers and chemical intermediates. Their ambition is large-scale CO2 re-use through the establishment of a CO2 value chain.

EnCO2re was co-initiated by Climate-KIC and industry partner Covestro, forming a consortium of 12 European partners from industry and research sectors. The programme has a comprehensive approach towards CO2 re-use and comprises activities in technology development, product development, technology acceptance, ecological assessments and market development.

EnCO2re is pronounced like the French word encore, meaning “again,” in reference to the re-use of CO2 the programme aims to enable.

The initial open innovation consortium consists of 12 European partners: Bayer Technology Services, Chalmers University of Technology, Covestro, Imperial College London, Johanneberg Science Park, Engie Labs, Mines ParisTech, RWTH Aachen, TU Berlin, TU Delft, University of Copenhagen and Wuppertal Institut.

SusChem publishes Polymer Composites Brochure

SusChem has just published a new brochure on ‘Polymer composites for automotive sustainability’. The brochure is the result of a collaborative effort involving stakeholders all along the automotive value chain in Europe. Automotive composites are a growing market that is driven by efficiency and emissions issues. The market for global automotive composite materials is forecast to reach €3.72 billion by 2017. This represents a real opportunity for the European chemical and composites industry. 

The automotive industry faces a new challenge aligning material properties, product design and production or assembly processes - especially in larger volume production series vehicles – but could take more advantage of the potential of composites for light-weighting vehicles. The demand for weight reduction is driven by the demand for better fuel efficiency and reduced emissions to comply with EU legislation. In 2007 over 500 million tons of CO2 emissions were estimated to be due to cars in the EU; it is estimated that savings due to composites light-weighting result in a potential 1.4% improvement here.

SusChem’s role
From its inception in 2004, SusChem identified advanced materials as an enabling technology critical to achieving its vision and mission. SusChem has set innovation priorities for advanced materials to be adopted in key end user markets including automotive and highlighted 'Multifunctional light-weight construction' as a priority for smart, green and integrated transport in its Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA).

The SusChem Working Group on Composites Materials for Automotive pulled together experts from the chemical industry, the automotive industry, the automotive parts suppliers as well as academia and recommended the publication of the brochure as well as a wider consultation with the established competence centres in Europe.

In October 2013 SusChem and the automotive R&D association EARPA organised a joint workshop, “Exploring cross-innovation opportunities on automotive composites and bio-based materials” in Frankfurt. The outcomes of this workshop, as well as feedback collected by a stakeholder consultation held as a follow-up exercise, are summarised in several key conclusions and recommendations within the polymer brochure.

Key objectives
The brochure integrates specific input from key stakeholders across the value chain, including those involved in production equipment, and provides concrete recommendations to enable faster progress in advanced composites light-weighting innovation uptake in the European automotive industry.

A set of specific R&D&I challenges are defined for advanced composite materials including:

• Novel and innovative polymer composite raw materials with enhanced recyclability properties
• Low cost adaptive, flexible and efficient manufacturing and assembly processes specific to the high-volume automotive industry
• Multi-attribute design optimisation that works even in case of a multi-material architecture
• Automated joining techniques for multi-materials and composites
• Invisible damage identification and repair techniques for composite parts

A key wider-scale objective is the establishment of an EU-wide programme to ensure adequate support for automotive composites research and innovation in the long term.

As well as this coordinated R&D&I programme, the establishment of a European Automotive Composites Competence Network is proposed. This network of R&D&I clusters can improve the coordination between local knowledge hubs.

For further information on SusChem activities in this area contact Jacques Komornicki at Cefic.

Carbon Dioxide Utilisation: A Catalyst for European Industrial Renaissance?

Essen will be the “place to be” at the end of September for those working on CO2 recycling and #useCO2 projects in Europe. The city will be the venue for the Fourth Conference on Carbon Dioxide as Feedstock for Fuels, Chemistry and Polymers on 29 and 30 September organised by the Nova Institute. And before the conference the SCOT (Smart CO2 Transformation) FP7 project will hold its mid-term conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilisation (CDU) on 28 September. All the events take place at the same location: Haus der Technik in Essen, Germany.

On 28 September the SCOT team will present its Vision for Carbon Dioxide Utilisation and a Strategic European Research Agenda for Europe. The floor will then be open for the views of high level speakers from politics and industry. Plenty of discussion is expected and you are welcome to take part!

SCOT wants to hear the voices of a wide range of participants. Break-out sessions in smaller groups will also provide opportunities for intense knowledge exchange and discussions on the various aspects of #useCO2 policy and technical issues.

Interactive sessions
This one-day conference will be THE place to hear about the latest developments on Carbon Dioxide Utilisation and help shape the future of CDU/ #useCO2 in Europe. Input from the conference will directly feed into SCOT advisory reports to the European Commission. These reports will cover both the future role of CDU in Europe and future support mechanisms for CDU.

The SCOT conference aims to actively engage academics, politicians and industry to discuss the Vision and business opportunities of CDU up to 2030. The break-out sessions will be in small groups of (20-25 people) and will involve a single presentation and a moderator to guide the discussion. The outcomes can help the SCOT team to further narrow down the project’s Vision, Research Objectives and Action Plan.

The sessions are on:

• The Potential of Carbon Dioxide Utilization for Mineralization and Waste
• Availability of low-cost low-carbon electricity for CDU
• Making chemical building blocks using CO2
• Working towards better LCA for CDU and System boundary definitions of CDU
• Power to X: Synthetic fuels from CO2? 
• Framing Carbon Dioxide Utilisation
• Bridging the Gap: (Policy) options to get from lab to market

The SCOT project team are certain that there are already many ideas for CDU that only require a good platform and funding to make them happen. At the end of the conference, SCOT is organising a matchmaking event to allow people to find projects and partners to respond successfully to the European research calls of 2016 on Carbon Dioxide Utilisation. Information will be available on next year’s Horizon 2020 calls including those under the SPIRE PPP initiative and the forthcoming Horizon Prize on CO2 utilisation. Come along to pitch your project ideas and expertise!

Participation in the SCOT conference (including the matchmaking event) costs €50 and you can register here. Students have the opportunity of getting a free ticket on a first-come-first-serve basis.
For more information, please contact the project secretariat. You can download the programme here.

CO2 as Feedstock
The SCOT conference takes place back to back with the Fourth Conference on Carbon Dioxide as Feedstock that is hosted by the Nova-Institute on 29 and 30 September at the Haus der Technik in Essen.

Over the last few years, the rise of this topic has developed rapidly from several research projects and industrial applications to become more and more dynamic, especially in the fields of solar fuels (power-to-fuel, power-to-gas) and also in CO2-based chemicals and polymers. At this conference leading players will showcase some enhanced and also new applications using carbon dioxide as feedstock. Representatives from political bodies and research institutes will be on hand at the event to present and discuss the latest national and regional policies, strategies and visions.

You can access the full programme for the event here and registration is here.

Biobased polymers: super highway or dirt road towards a European bioindustry?

Biobased polymers are one of five business cases analysed in the framework of BIO-TIC, the SusChem-inspired FP7 project that set itself the ambitious task of identifying hurdles to full deployment of industrial biotechnology in Europe and finding ways to overcome them. The project will be holding a free Webinar on 17 March 2015 starting at 1 pm (CET) on the subject of Biobased polymers – highway or dirt road towards a European bioindustry?

The webinar will introduce the BIO-TIC roadmaps on R&D, non-technological and market related aspects of the use of industrial biotechnology in the European bio-based polymers sector.

The supplier perspective will be given by the guest speaker, Dr. Joachim Schulze, Head of Biotechnology at ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions who run a polylactic acid (PLA) demonstration plant in Leuna, Germany. Dr. Schulze will present his views on the future of the PLA value chain and evolution of the PLA business in general.

To register for the webinar, please click here.

BIO-TIC is keen to get your feedback on their roadmaps and hear your comments both during and after the webinar. For more information on the BIO-TIC project, please visit the project website.

Biobased plastics
Today, biobased plastics have an established market and are rapidly growing both in Europe and on a global scale. Between 2008 and 2013, biobased plastics showed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% in the EU. In 2013, Europe was both the largest biobased plastics consumer and producer, supplying one-third of the global biobased plastics output.

Concerns about plastic waste issues, GHG emissions and oil price fluctuation are pushing the public sector, businesses and consumers towards more sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics. Biobased plastics are a heterogeneous group consisting of:

• Biodegradable and/or compostable biobased polymers (e.g. PLA and PHAs)
• Non biodegradable biobased polymers (e.g. biobased PE, partially biobased PET and PTT) and thermosets (e.g. partially biobased polyurethanes and epoxies)

With the drop in fossil fuel prices, the cost-competitiveness of EU biobased plastics production compared to other regions is expected to become  increasingly difficult. On top of this, several other hurdles are impeding the development of the bioplastics industry in the EU. These include:

• Lack of government support for biobased plastics
• Difficulties in translating research into concrete products
• Lack of public awareness of biobased plastics and their benefits
• Further technology development required in some sectors to improve functionality

More information on BIO-TIC
BIO-TIC is a three-year European Commission-funded project which aims to identify the hurdles to industrial biotechnology and to develop solutions to overcome them, thereby unlocking the massive potential for this key technology in Europe.

The project focuses on five product groups which have significant potential for Europe and which have the potential to introduce cross cutting technology ideas. These product groups are

• Biobased chemical building blocks
• Biobased plastics
• Biosurfactants
• Advanced biofuels
• CO2 based chemicals

A final BIO-TIC action plan for developing the industrial biotechology sector in Europe, along with its three separate roadmaps on market, R&D and non-technological aspects focusing on the opportunities above, will be delivered by the project in summer 2015.

F3 Factory Case Study: Highly Viscous Polymers

BASF and Bayer Technology Services (BTS) collaborated to demonstrate the F³ Factory concept for multi-product, small-to-medium scale production of high viscous polymers in a solvent-free manufacturing process. Supported by academic input from the Technical University of Eindhoven and the University of Paderborn, this case study featured the development and demonstration of a new flexible, reactor technology within a modular, continuous production unit.

The transfer of multi-product batch polymerisation of high temperature thermoplastics in organic solvent to a solvent-free process is a challenging task and has so far prevented producers from developing solvent-free processes.

Without reducing viscosity by applying very large amounts of solvents, “difficult processes” like solvent-free polymerisation cannot be carried out in standard mixers. The focus of this F³ Factory case study therefore concentrated on the development of intensified, high-strength mixing equipment. To succeed this approach needed to guarantee material integrity and enable effective supplementary mixing as well as devolatilisation and solidification. Performance at long residence times in continuous mode also needed to be assured.

New reactor technology

A new twin-shaft, high-torque kneader reactor developed by Buss-SMS-Canzler (pictured below) was shown to meet the key requirements of strength and operational flexibility and led to a step-change improvement in viscosity handling up to 10 000 Pascal seconds.

Modular construction and many standardised parts also allow for flexible adaptation to different products and processes, with the ability to switch rapidly between different mixing rotor assemblies.

Collaboration key to success

To realise the full potential of this intensified kneader reactor, its complex geometry required focus on several key durability issues. Their examination has been a classic model of F³ Factory project partnerships.

The University of Paderborn (UPB) investigated the mechanical integrity; modelling of unit processes; radial and axial mixing; micro/macro mixing and axial dispersion. Investigations confirmed the ecological and economic advantages of the kneader from its fast radial mixing and minor back mixing plus well-developed devolatilisation based on reactor partial-fill operation.

Numerical simulations using CFD analysis were performed by Technical University Eindhoven to calculate the velocity and pressure fields within the kneaded material, leading to rotor strength and fatigue computations by Buss-SMS-Cransler (SMS). Online measurement techniques for the high-torque kneaders were then developed by BASF, with technology transfer to UPB and SMS.

BTS derived a mass-balance for the intensified kneader reactor design, providing the liquid filling level as a function of viscosity, throughput and rotational speed. Following validation of the new reactor technology at lab-scale and successful polymerisation trials, the modular plant concept was designed by BTS and demonstrated successfully at the INVITE facility.

Solvent-free, high viscous polymers

Excellent progress on the integration of process and equipment design enabled illustration of the plant concept and contributed to the design and construction of a pilot facility at BASF’s site in Ludwigshafen. The new solvent-free process was subsequently validated with a continuous lab-scale kneader reactor.

The intensified process was then transferred to the F³ Factory modular, continuous plant concept with design of a demonstrator Process Equipment Container and respective Process Equipment Assemblies.

By eliminating the use of solvents, the process has been intensified significantly. It has reduced complexity, energy consumption and facilitated the successful transfer from batch to continuous polymerisation.

The case study was demonstrated successfully at the INVITE facility in Leverkusen, over an extended processing time, confirming both the strength and integrity of the kneader reactor.

In addition to the technological advancement achieved in this project, the transfer from batch to continuous of a new solvent-free polymerisation process has demonstrated both cost (30% reduction in energy demand) and environmental benefits (100% solvent reduction) for the continuous production of high viscous polymers.

More information

For more information visit the F3 Factory Project website or contact Dr. Achim Stammer at BASF.