Evonik to build rhamnolipid surfactants plant

RENEWABLE NEWS Evonik to build rhamnolipid surfactants plant

Speciality chemical company Evonik announced on 14 January that it will build a new production plant for bio-based rhamnolipids in Slovakia, due to become operational in two years.

Evonik said the investment at the Slovenská Ľupča site strengthened its partnership with consumer goods group Unilever, which began in 2019. It would also allow Evonik to further expand its market position in the growing biosurfactants market.

“We invest more than US$454M a year in our research and development,” Evonik chief innovation officer Harald Schwager said. “The journey of rhamnolipids from the initial idea to the finished product has been long, but it is worth it.”

Produced by the fermentation of sugar, rhamnolipids are biosurfactants and can be used as an alternative to fossil carbon in a range of applications from cleaning agents to personal care.

“Rhamnolipids are an important part of our Clean Future initiative which [aims] to replace fossil carbon in all cleaning products by 2030,” Unilever executive vice president (Middle Europe) Peter Dekkers said.

Evonik’s life sciences division, Nutrition & Care, has also set a goal to increase its share of system solutions from the current level of 20% to more than 50% by 2030.

“With the construction of the world’s first industrial-scale production facility, we can supply this rapidly growing market,” head of Evonik’s Nutrition & Care division Johann-Caspar Gammelin said.

IN BRIEF

THAILAND: Construction engineering firm Thyssenkrupp Uhde Thailand announced on 12 January that it had been awarded a contract for an esterification plant by a leading oleochemical and speciality chemical producer in Asia.

Due for completion this year, the plant would use Thyssenkrupp Uhde’s proprietary Jet Reactor technology and produce medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) for use in the food and personal care industries for an unnamed client, the company said.

THE NETHERLANDS:

Renewable chemistry technology company Avantium has signed a supply agreement with sugar and starch producer Tereos for its 5,000 tonnes/year flagship plant in Delfzijl producing 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a key feedstock for the plant-based plastic material polyethylene furanoate (PEF).

Avantium said its plant would be the world’s first factory producing FDCA on a commercial scale.

“This partnership combines Tereos’ track record in cereal processing and green chemistry with the expertise of Avantium in the field of biobased polymers,” Tereos CEO (global starch & sweeteners) Christophe Lescroart said.

Tereos operates a plant in Aalst, Belgium producing starch and sweeteners. Global agribusiness giant Cargill has agreed to acquire the majority of speciality chemical company Croda’s performance technologies and industrial chemicals business for US$1.03bn.

Cargill said on 22 December that the acquisition would expand its bio-industrial presence and it would gain production facilities across Europe and Asia, along with a technology portfolio in the automotive, polymer and food packaging sectors.

The deal was expected to close this summer and in line with Cargill’s commitment to sustainability, more than two-thirds of the raw materials used to manufacture products in these sectors would be biobased and renewable.

The acquisition followed other recent moves by Cargill to expand its presence in the bio-industrial sector, including its acquisition of Floratech, a leading provider of natural emollients and derivatives for beauty and personal care applications, and Arkema’s epoxides business.

Croda produces and sells speciality chemicals for a range of sectors including consumer care, life sciences and performance technologies. These include vegetable-based stearic acids, castor oil ethoxylates, polymeric surfactants, ethoxylated fatty alcohols, fatty amides and esters, and speciality polymers.

Cargill to buy Croda business units

Cargill said more than two-thirds of the raw materials used to manufacture its bio-based products would be renewable

RSPO-certified products from Peter Greven

Leading oleochemical producer Peter Greven has switched three further product lines to Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Mass Balance certified fatty acid, effective from 1 January.

The company said the move covered its Ligamed, Ligafeed and Palmstar product lines and followed its earlier shift to RSPO-certified fatty acid in its Ligafood product line in 2018.

Peter Greven has production facilities in Germany, Malaysia, the Netherlands and the USA. Its product range includes metallic and alkaline soaps, esters, dispersions and fatty acids and glycerine.

The RSPO has several models for the supply of certified palm oil.

In the Identity Preserved (IP) model, sustainable palm oil is kept separate from ordinary palm oil throughout the supply chain. Under the Segregated model, sustainable palm oil from different certified sources is kept separate from ordinary palm oil throughout the supply chain. In the Mass Balance scheme, palm oil from certified sources is mixed with ordinary palm oil throughout the supply chain, with the purchase of certified palm oil matching the sale of certified products.