Wacker binders based on renewable resources certified
TÜV Süd, the international technical inspectorate and certification body, has certified Wacker’s biomass balance method as meeting its international CMS 71 standard.
Independent certification assures customers that Wacker has replaced the required quantities of fossil resources with an equivalent amount of renewables for its biomass-balanced products right at the start of production. The Munich-based chemical company is the world’s first manufacturer capable of using renewable resources to produce commercial quantities not only of dispersions based on vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer (VAE), but also of further products based on vinyl acetate. To do so, the company uses acetic acid generated as a byproduct in the woodworking industry.
Wood from sustainably managed forests
“More and more customers in construction, paints, adhesives, textiles and the paper industry value the use of renewable raw materials,” says Dr. Christoph Riemer, head of the Consumer & Industrial Polymers business unit at Wacker Polymers. He added, “We can now meet that wish with our vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymers. After all, our approach to sustainability begins right at the raw-material stage.” The wood originates from sustainably managed forests that are PEFC certified. The bio-based acetic acid is characterised by very high purity, very good color compatibility and very low water content. As a result, the bio-acetic acid’s chemical and physical behavior is identical with that of conventional, fossil acetic acid. What’s more, mixing both types of acetic acid does not affect the end-product’s properties.
Continuous share increases possible
All these aspects favor the biomass balance method that WACKER uses to calculate how much VAE dispersion was produced from renewable and, thus, non-fossil raw materials. For the moment, renewable resources account for a limited share of Wackers’s global output of VAE dispersions. All the same, the biomass balance approach is ideal for raising that share continuously. Alongside VAE dispersions, Wacker offers vinyl acetate homopolymer dispersions and vinyl acetate-based solid resins as biomass-balanced grades.
Event tip:
Do you want to learn more on bio-based raw materials that can be used in the coatings industry? Then you should visit the European Coatings Seminar Bio-based raw materials on November 13 in Amsterdam. This one-day training will give you a good overview which bio-based raw materials can be used today, which ones will become important in the future and what much more.
