There is so much news coming out today (maybe Earth Day should be every month) but I wanted to blog this one because of the nice video about their castor-based polyamide.

But before we go to that, Arkema announced today that the construction of its world-scale plant that will produce bio-based Rilsan^® polyamide 11 (and its monomer, aminoundecanoic acid derived from castor oil), is on schedule for commissioning in the second quarter of 2022. The plan was originally announced in 2017. The investment in Singapore is the biggest to date in Arkema’s history with around EUR350 million earmarked for this project and other associated investments for Arkema’s specialty polyamides also in Asia.

According to Arkema, the production at this site will help meet the strong demand for polyamide 11 in the Asian market and adds significant flexibility to Arkema’s global supply chain. Just to let everybody know, Arkema is the only current producer of PA11 as far as I know. I will report more about the PA11 market including what’s going on in the castor oil market on Tecnon OrbiChem’s May issue of Bio-Materials newsletter.

Castor is considered a sustainable crop as it grows in poor soil in the Gujarat region in India. Around 80% of the global castor seeds are produced in India although there are pockets of production in Brazil and China. Sebacic Oman, a producer of sebacic acid – another raw material derived from castor oil and used in the production of a different type of polyamide – is reportedly looking to kick-start the mass farming of castor beans in Duqm, Oman.

Arkema, along with its partners, has also launched the “Pragati” program in 2016 to promote the most sustainable production of castor in India including the implementation of good agricultural practices, agricultural waste management, water resources, social awareness, and the health of farmers.

As previously mentioned, here’s a very nice short video introducing the use of castor bean in the production of polyamide.