CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT
Eastman | September 26, 2022
Interzero and Eastman announced a long-term supply agreement for Eastman's previously announced molecular recycling facility in Normandy, France. Interzero will provide up to 20,000 metric tonnes per year of hard-to-recycle PET household packaging waste that would otherwise be incinerated.
Interzero Plastics Recycling, as part of Interzero, is an innovation leader in plastics recycling with the largest sorting capacity in Europe and many years of experience. Headquartered in Germany, Interzero is a leading service provider of circular solutions in Europe and is strongly connected to its sister company ALBA Group ASIA both led by Chairman and Shareholder, Dr. Axel Schweitzer.
Eastman's planned molecular recycling facility in France will become the world's largest material-to-material molecular recycling plant. Once complete, the facility will recycle approximately 160,000 tonnes of hard-to-recycle polyester waste annually. The project is expected to be operational in 2025.
"Eastman is a leader in molecular recycling with decades of innovation expertise. Joining forces by combining the leading know how of Eastman and Interzero is the next step in closing the loop with our partners and a step closer towards a world without waste. The world is facing a plastic waste crisis with far too little plastic waste being recycled, either from lack of collection or because it simply cannot be recycled by traditional methods. Eastman's innovative process and this agreement bring a solution to this."
Jacco de Haas, chief commercial officer at Interzero Plastics Recycling
Chemical recycling is a necessary complement to mechanical recycling to keep more raw materials in the loop. Both companies are committed to creating material circularity. Eastman's facility in France will process colored and opaque PET waste that cannot be recycled mechanically to create clear and transparent rPET upon completion.
"Interzero and Eastman are committed to reducing plastic waste and creating circularity through collaboration and innovation," said Brad Lich, Eastman executive vice president and chief commercial officer. "This agreement marks an important milestone towards Eastman's investment in France. We are happy to build a strong collaboration in Europe with Interzero to provide a portion of the feedstock needed to successfully operate our facility. The collaboration reinforces the complementary nature of mechanical and molecular recycling, and the importance of working together to create true circularity."
Eastman's proven polyester renewal technology provides true circularity for hard-to-recycle plastic waste that remains in a linear economy today. This material is typically incinerated because it either cannot be mechanically recycled or must be downcycled using existing technology. Eastman's chemical recycling technology allows this hard-to-recycle waste to be broken down into its molecular building blocks and then reassembled to become first-quality material without any compromise in performance. Eastman's polyester renewal technology enables the potentially infinite value of materials by keeping them in production, lifecycle after lifecycle. With the technology's inherent efficiencies and the renewable energy sources available in France, materials can be produced with significantly less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional methods.
About Interzero
Interzero is an innovation leader in plastics recycling with the largest sorting capacity in Europe and one of the leading environmental service providers in the field of closing product, material, and logistics cycles. Under the guiding principle of "zero waste solutions", the company advises over 20,000 customers throughout Europe on the responsible handling of recyclable materials, thus helping them to improve their own sustainability performance and conserve primary resources. With about 2,000 employees, the company achieves a turnover of over one billion euros (2021). In 2020 alone Interzero saved 1.4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases compared to primary production and at the same time 12.3 million tonnes of primary raw materials through its recycling activities.
About Eastman
Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company's innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive and diverse company, Eastman employs approximately 14,000 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2021 revenues of approximately $10.5 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. In Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Eastman employs approximately 2100 and is present in 10 countries. EMEA accounted for 26 percent of Eastman's total sales revenue in 2021.
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CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY
Novoloop | September 23, 2022
Novoloop, an emerging leader in plastic circularity, announced its partnership with the Swiss sports brand On last night at an Elemental Excelerator event, as part of Climate Week in New York City. Novoloop’s thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) – the world’s first chemically upcycled TPU – is featured as the outsole for On’s newest carbon capture consortium shoe, Cloudprime.
The achievement is the result of a two year-long joint development, in which both companies invested in creating a TPU made from an unconventional carbon feedstock originating from plastic waste. Having passed rigorous laboratory and athlete wear testing, Novoloop and On will begin scale-up planning to incorporate the chemically upcycled TPU into future products for mass production.
“Saving the planet is a team sport,” says Caspar Coppetti, Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman of On. “We are excited to see what can happen in the future as we unlock the potential of alternative carbon sources with further research and in collaboration with the best partners, such as Novoloop.”
On is committed to move away from petroleum-based materials in its products by accelerating the development of materials that are upcycled, bio-based or derived by carbon capture.
Novoloop was founded by Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao in 2015 with a mission to change the course of plastics for good. The company’s chemically upcycled TPU is created by breaking down post-consumer waste polyethylene – such as plastic bags, bubble wrap, and shampoo bottles – through the company’s patented Accelerated Thermal Oxidative Decomposition (ATOD™) technology. This chemical deconstruction turns trash that is difficult – or even impossible – to mechanically recycle into molecular building blocks which are re-synthesized, or upcycled, into TPU.
The chemically upcycled TPU contains 35% post-consumer content and performs comparably to virgin TPU derived from fossil fuels. As a high-performance thermoplastic, it is recyclable and can be manufactured with less waste than thermoset materials, such as synthetic rubber. Moreover, lifecycle assessments show that the production of Novoloop’s TPU emits significantly less carbon than that of fossil fuel-derived TPU.
On's interest in Novoloop's technology centered on the promise of sustainability, and the sports brand soon learned that performance would not be a compromise. On put Novoloop’s TPU through a dozen rigorous tests to prove its potential as a high performance outsole. In abrasion testing, Novoloop’s TPU outperformed synthetic rubber, losing only 25 cubic millimeters in DIN abrasion. The TPU also exhibited at least 10% better wet grip than synthetic rubber – a difference felt by athletes in on-foot testing.
“Our team is working hard to scale up our breakthrough process so that more footwear customers can realize the benefits of this innovative TPU. We are grateful to be part of creating Cloudprime. Working with On has been an exceptional experience, and we look forward to what we will achieve together in the future.”
Novoloop CEO Miranda Wang
About Novoloop
Novoloop is an emerging leader in plastic circularity, transforming post-consumer plastic waste into performance materials. Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the venture-backed startup has raised $25M and is building and scaling new technologies to reinvent the chemical value chain. With a vision to end the plastic catastrophe, Novoloop is transforming waste into applications for footwear, sporting goods, and automotive industries.
About On
On was born in the Swiss Alps with one goal: to revolutionize the sensation of running by empowering all to run on clouds. Twelve years after market launch, On delivers industry-disrupting innovation in premium footwear, apparel, and accessories for high-performance running, outdoor, and all-day activities. Fueled by customer recommendation, On’s award-winning CloudTec® innovation, purposeful design, and groundbreaking strides in sportswear’s circular economy have attracted a fast-growing global fan base inspiring humans to explore, discover and dream on.
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CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT
Chromatic 3D Materials | September 22, 2022
Chromatic 3D Materials, a 3D-printing technology provider, has developed breakthrough Smooth-Mode technology for 3D printing of durable rubber parts with ultra-smooth surfaces at commercial volumes. Now, industrial manufacturers can 3D print smooth, high-quality polyurethane parts, such as seals, gaskets, grommets, bladders and other elastomeric products, with no post processing or surface finishing.
"Sealing requires a smooth surface, but 3D-printed parts have always had layer lines or roughness. We have developed a way to easily and cost-effectively 3D print products that are ultra-smooth without additional steps. It's a breakthrough for 3D printing those professional applications that must be airtight and watertight,"
Dr. Cora Leibig, Chromatic CEO and founder
Parts printed with Smooth-Mode technology have superior aesthetics as well as finer dimensional accuracy. For example, products can be printed with precise uniform thickness at submillimeter scale. Thus, the new technology is suitable for manufacturing rubber bladders and other elastomeric products that expand and contract.
Chromatic's team of additive manufacturing experts first achieved ultra-smooth prints by fine-tuning the viscosity and surface tension of the company's printable thermoset polyurethane materials. "We developed a way to go beyond simply applying our reaction technology to FDM printing. Smooth-Mode uses chemistry to create an ultra-bonded and smooth part. We believe this printing technique delivers the world's smoothest printing along the Z, or height, axis," explained Dr. Bart Engendahl, Chromatic's managing director in Germany.
Industrial manufacturers can take advantage of Smooth-Mode with Chromatic's RX-AM™ materials and technology platform. A 3-in-1 platform, RX-AM™ includes materials, software and hardware for deposition printing with reactive chemistry. RX-AM™, or Reactive Extrusion Additive Manufacturing, uses printable polyurethanes with Shore A hardness ranging from 50 to 90 as well as custom grades with varying colors, hardnesses and special properties. The platform is designed for printing commercial volumes.
About Chromatic 3D Materials
Chromatic 3D Materials is a 3D-printing technology company focused on more flexible, cost-effective and sustainable manufacturing of industrial-strength elastomeric products. Its portfolio includes printable polyurethanes and other thermoset elastomers for applications in transportation, industrial seals and gaskets, textiles, medical devices and defense. Chromatic's RX-AM™ materials and technology platform is based on Reactive Extrusion Additive Manufacturing, a type of deposition 3D printing that uses chemical reactions. Founded in 2016 by CEO Dr. Cora Leibig, Chromatic now has facilities in the US and Germany.
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