Biomaterials in adhesives and sealants

Again (and again), sorry for the sparse blogging as between AFPM (petrochemicals event in San Antonio), my Biomaterials deadline and ASC Spring Meeting, I have barely time to catch my breath.

However, just in the past two weeks, there were so many interesting announcements and information that came my way and one of them is an update on the global bio-MEG market that I will share soon with the Biomaterials newsletter subscribers.

In the meantime, here is a snapshot of my presentation at the recently held Adhesive and Sealant Council (ASC) meeting and expo in Atlanta, Georgia. It was my first time attending this event and I was a bit apprehensive giving a presentation since I am not that familiar with the bio-based chemicals used in adhesives and sealants aside from pine resins. I learned a bit on some of the chemicals that these industries focused on such as isoprene, gum/rosin resins, acrylates, butadiene, polyurethanes, UPR, epoxies, etc. I’m sure there are other monomers of interests but my head was already spinning on just one day of attending some of the presentations.

There was actually one presentation from Henkel that noted their project on anaerobic adhesives using a bio-based monomer which was specially formulated for Henkel for this adhesive product. Unfortunately it was too technical for me to relay information to the blog. The other presentation (also a bit technical) was from Total Cray Valley, which noted their development of tackifiers using Amyris’s beta farnesene.

Another presentation was from a law firm called Thompson Hine, which noted the regulations in California for building products and how just one lawsuit could affect a lot of companies in the supply chain of a product using a chemical that are considered toxic – so a company might as well make sure the chemical they use is environment-friendly. Thompson Hine also noted retailers such as Walmart, Target, Loewe’s, Home Depot, etc., that are increasingly initiating labels and lists of ‘chemicals of concern’ in response to growing consumer demand for ingredients/chemical transparency in the products they use.

Definitely something that product formulators in the adhesives and sealants markets should take consideration.

PS
This article by Cynthia Challener is just part of a 24-page magazine published as a special supplement for the ASC conference, but you can access the entire magazine on the ICIS Chemical Business Special ASC Supplement page.