One of the identified global megatrends within the process industry is the growing demand of sustainable raw materials. In line with this trend there are a few bio-based technologies that are of interest as alternative to mineral oil plasticizer for adhesives and sealants.
Nynas has a strong focus on sustainability and are working dedicated both to continuously improve the mineral oil based products and processes alongside the development of the next generation plasticizers derived from renewable resources.
In line with the European Green Deal there are intense work ongoing to explore the possibility of using renewable feedstocks to produce plasticizers, resins and polymers that are typically used within the adhesive and sealant industry. The developments can be categorized by Technology Readiness Level (TRL) where some are in an early stage (TRL 1-5) and will take several years until commercialization and some that are already being introduced to the market (TRL 9). Nynas has developed two different bio based plasticizers that has reached TRL 9 and are being introduced to the market.
This paper aims to introduce the two renewable derived products and review the performance in respective relevant adhesive and sealant applications.