Advanced Bio-Circular (ABC) Materials
These are not "just" bio-based materials. They are truly advanced polymers that are derived from a sustainably farmed feedstock. The Pragati sustainable farming initiative helps to continue a deep societal impact, uplifting thousands of Indian farmers and their families. This social impact extends to environmental impact as ABC materials ultimately help the world reduce its carbon footprint... a carbon footprint that is further reduced when these ABC polymers are recycled & reused.
Solar Impulse Foundation Awards “Efficient Solution” Certification to Arkema’s Polyamide 11 Materials
Solar Impulse Foundation is a major international NGO that promotes clean and profitable solutions to governments and international organizations across the globe. They refer to their efficient solution database as “A search engine for climate action”.
The certification involved multiple rounds of interviews and data collection resulting in a “Yes” vote from all three independent experts on the key criteria of feasibility, environment, and profitability.
Arkema’s Advanced Bio-Circular (ABC) Materials are now included in the Solar Impulse website and their “Solutions Explorer” search engine.
In their final report, Solar Impulse Foundation issued a strong endorsement of our message:
- “Castor seed is a low-risk crop with a favorable sustainability profile – no competition with food, no deforestation, and profitable for the farmers.”
- “Arkema has also commercialized its Virtucycle® program – an ad hoc in-house recycling program.”
- “70% lower carbon footprint than traditional fossil-based polyamides. Also, lighter and stronger.”
(A) Advanced
Arkema is a pioneer in amino 11 chemistry. Our flagship Rilsan® polyamide 11 and Pebax® Rnew® thermoplastic elastomers have a proven legacy in meeting some of the world’s most demanding material challenges... heck we named our website ExtremeMaterials.com afterall! Their trademark properties include light weight, flexibility, durability, energy return, and overall toughness. They represent two families of highly differentiated advanced materials with a wide portfolio of options, including grades that are tailored for higher temperatures, transparency, and even functional characteristics like breathable and antistatic properties.
Polymers that pack a punch
A design engineer's dream
(B) Bio-based
Arkema’s amino 11 chemistry is derived from the castor bean, a renewable crop that does not compete with food and does not cause deforestation. Arkema is a leading driver of renewable castor farming in India.
Launched in 2016, Arkema is a founding member of the Pragati Initiative with BASF, Jayant Agro-Organics Ltd., and Solidaridad. The initiative's key goal is to enable renewable castor crop production by: (1) Using good agricultural practices to increase yield and farmer income; (2) Efficiently using water resources and Maintaining soil fertility; (3) Driving adoption of good waste management practices; and (4) Enabling better health and safety practices, and respecting human rights.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PRAGATI PROGRAM HERE
A magic bean... that's actually a seed
(C) Circular
The castor bean is actually a seed. When planted, more seeds grow – the circle of life in action! Further, Rilsan® and Pebax® Rnew® grades are generally recyclable. Arkema offers its Virtucycle® services to partners to collect materials for recycling and the SCS-certified PA11, PA12 and PEBA material grades containing 30% to 95% minimum recycled content.
Arkema plays the role of “matchmaker” – matching customers who want to recycle, with those who want to source recycled materials. Then our specialized partner AGIPLAST gets to work in mechanically recycling the discarded parts and scrap into new raw material for new applications. This mechanical recycling allows another ~80% further reduction in CO2 impact. We understand high performance polymers require strict quality controls to assure the final properties are not compromised so our Virtucycle® services are conducted on a case-by-case basis.