Interview to Giuseppina Carotenuto, Research & Development Manager at Novamont
Q: How is Novamont going to carry out the product formulations?
A: In the context of the development of bioeconomy, the sustainable production of biobased materials is a critical success factor for the long-term perspective to implement bio-based products on a large scale.
PERFORM projects is expected to contribute to technology development to reduce the environmental impact of the chemical industry. The implementation of electrochemical production methods for bio-based building blocks for performance products will be a game changer, leading to more efficient and sustainable production of chemicals.
Novamont promotes an approach to bioeconomy based on the efficient use of renewable resources. Our mission is to develop materials and biochemicals through the integration of chemistry and agriculture, by starting up biorefineries in the local areas and providing application solutions that ensure efficient use of resources throughout their entire life cycle, with advantages for the social, economic and environmental system.
The use of renewable raw materials is one of the qualifying elements of Novamont’s biodegradable and compostable bioplastics and we are working to progressively increase the renewable content of our products.
Within the Perform project, we have the possibility of creating and testing new bio-based and biodegradable polyesters using dicarboxylic acids from electrochemical processes with an improved environmental profile due to the efficient utilization of renewable biobased feedstocks and renewable energy.
In particular Novamont will validate the quality and the usability of Perform’s dicarboxylic acids in the production of bio-based polymers. In this case is essential to have a high purity index of the monomers, aimed at obtaining materials with mechanical and physical properties in line with Novamont’s target. First of all, laboratory trials will be performed to test the PERFORM biochemicals for the synthesis of bio-based polyesters to screen purity profiles. Then the most suitable formulations will be selected for the validation at pilot scale to get a wider and more comprehensive knowledge on the production process.