Mazda uses isosorbide-based engineering plastics

We just published our first Biomaterials newsletter for the year and it’s a whopping 60 pages (yikes!). For our Tecnon OrbiChem subscribers, I hope you have the entire February to scan through the newsletter.

One of the news we included is Mitsubishi Chemical’s announcement of the incorporation of its Durabio isosorbide-based engineering plastics on the exterior design parts of Mazda’s new Roadstar RF model, which was introduced on 22 December 2016. The Roadstar RF is the fifth model to use DURABIO™, and the new grade will be adopted for more models.

The beauty of this new grade of Durabio, according to MCC, is its ease of coloring where it can be simply mixed with pigment to create glossy, highly reflective and rich hue surfaces, along with its hardness, enhancing durability and scratch resistance, which eliminate the need for a coating process – thereby reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from paints.

The new grade has also been used for interior and exterior design parts of Mazda’s CX-9, Axela, and Demio since 2015, when it was first adopted for the Roadstar launched in the same year. MCC said it will accelerate research and development of DURABIO, with the goal of expanding applications for automobile interior design parts.

Here are some other tidbits for our Biomaterials Issue number 41

• Special Report: Overview of the renewable chemicals industry in 2016
• Analysis of Avantium’s acquisition of Liquid Light
• Global Bioenergies acquires Dutch industrial biotech start-up Syngip
• An LCA study reports lower GHG emissions from petro-based fatty alcohols vs PKO-based alcohols
• Bio-on signs a €55 million multi-license PHA contract leading to a 100 ktpa PHA production plan
• CHEMICAL PROFILE: Succinic Acid

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