New DuPont polymers manufactured using renewable resources
Canadian Plastics
Canadian PlasticsDuPont Engineering Polymers announced at the National Plastics Exhibition (NPE) 2006 last week that it will start s...
DuPont Engineering Polymers announced at the National Plastics Exhibition (NPE) 2006 last week that it will start selling two new families of engineered polymers made with renewable resources in 2007.
One of the new families, Sorona, will have properties similar to and process similarly to polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). The second product family will be a version of DuPont’s Hytrel polyester thermoplastic elastomer.
The renewable ingredient in DuPont’s Sorona will be Bio-PDO derived from corn sugar using a new patented and proprietary fermentation process developed by DuPont, which will replace 1,3 propanediol (PDO) and/or 1,4-butanediol (BDO), the firm said.
Bio-PDO will also be used to manufacture a polyol used in the manufacture of Hytrel, DuPont added. Sorona will be available by mid 2007 and Hytrel by the fourth quarter of 2007, the company said.
According to DuPont, not only does Bio-PDO reduce the dependency on petrochemical products, but requires 40 per cent less energy to produce than its petrochemical counterpart. This results in savings of about 10 million gallons of gasoline per year, based on annual production volumes of 100 million pounds of Bio-PD0.
Production of Bio-PDO at a new facility in Loudon, Tenn., which is jointly owned by DuPont and Tate & Lyle Bio Products, is scheduled to come online later this year and will produce 100 million pounds of Bio-PDO annually.
By 2010 DuPont aims to derive 25 per cent of its revenue by non-depletable resources, the firm said in a statement released at NPE.