BASF’s Performance Materials division plants run entirely on renewable electricity in Europe as of 2025

BASF’s Performance Materials division completely switched all its European sites to renewable electricity. “As BASF, we want to enable our customers green transformation, and we believe it starts with us. This is our ambition and the goal of #OurPlasticsJourney,” said Martin Jung, President of BASF’s Performance Materials division. “The use of electricity from renewable sources such as wind or solar is necessary to achieve our climate targets.” The changeover applies to the compounding of Engineering Plastics, Polyurethanes and Thermoplastic Polyurethanes and Specialty Polymers. With the turn of the year, in total nine Performance Materials production sites across Europe have been converted.

Renewable electricity also plays an important role in the whole value chain such as in the choice of suppliers. For example, BASF Performance Materials sources glass fibers for the reinforcement of plastics from 3B Fibreglass, one of BASF’s suppliers that uses solar panels to generate electricity and has thus significantly reduced its carbon emissions. The reduced CO2 footprint of glass fibers is transferred to BASF’s products and ultimately to its customers. Such improvements will also apply within BASF’s value chain, to produce base polymers and other precursors for Engineering Plastics and Polyurethanes. “Ludwigshafen, as the world’s largest integrated chemical complex, cannot switch completely to renewable electricity from one day to the next. Our own combined cycle gas power plants produce electricity and process steam with a 95% efficiency at emissions far below the average grid level.

 

Within the next few years, BASF intends to continuously convert all its operations globally to renewable electricity. This will be achieved through the expansion of renewable energy production via significant projects. For example, the world’s biggest offshore windfarm owned by BASF and Vattenfall and located on the Hollandse Kust Zuid started its operations in 2023 and enables innovative, emission-free technologies at several production sites all over Europe. Schwarzheide, BASF’s second largest site in Germany, now integrates a 24-megawatt capacity from solar energy. “However, renewable electricity is not the only lever for reducing CO2 emissions. Green steam made from the electrification of processes and the use of alternative raw materials via the mass balance approach play an essential role in the transformation towards a sustainable chemical industry.

 

BASF aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2030 compared to the base year 2018 and become climate-neutral by 2050. To achieve this ambitious goal, BASF is increasingly focusing on renewable energy, optimizing raw material procurement and production processes, and promoting and implementing a circular economy.

source:BASF

Sudarshan Chemical Completes Acquisition of Heubach Group

Sudarshan Chemical Industries Limited (SCIL) announced that through its wholly owned subsidiary Sudarshan Europe B.V., it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Germany-based Heubach Group in a combination of an asset and share deal.

This strategic acquisition creates a global pigment leader, bringing together SCIL’s operations and expertise with Heubach's technological capabilities. It will enhance SCIL’s product portfolio, giving it access to a diversified asset footprint across 19 international sites. The combined company will have a strong presence in major markets including Europe and the Americas. Rajesh Rathi will lead the combined company as managing director and CEO.

Heubach has a 200-year-old history and became the second-largest pigment player in the world after its integration with Clariant in 2022. It had more than a billion euros in revenue in FY21 and FY22, with a global footprint especially in Europe, Americas, and the APAC region. Heubach faced financial challenges over the past two years due to rising costs, inventory issues, and high interest rates. SCIL’s acquisition of Heubach will address these challenges with a clear turnaround plan.

“Today marks an exciting new chapter as we unite with Heubach to become an inspirational leader in the colorants industry,” Rathi said. “The combined company builds on the rich legacies of both Sudarshan and Heubach. Our goal is now to create the world’s most valuable pigment company with great financial strength and profitability. Together, we will drive continuous innovation and deliver breakthrough solutions that benefit each of our stakeholders.”

SCIL completed the transaction on schedule. The immediate priority will be to operate as one – unlocking efficiencies, driving synergies, and fully integrating legacy Clariant, Heubach, and Sudarshan into a unified, stronger organization.

Germany remains a strategic location for SCIL and by establishing its second global headquarters in the Frankfurt area, the company underscores the region’s role as a key pillar of its operations and future growth.

source: Sudarshan Chemical Industries/coatingsworld

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share:Exoskeleton Technology

 Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

ADDYX srl present ExoFly, our innovative solution designed for the space and aerospace industries, presented at the Innovation Planets JEC Group.

Featured at JEC World 2025, ExoFly integrates topological optimization, exoskeleton technology, and water-soluble mandrels to create lightweight, structurally superior components with reduced waste and lower CO₂ emissions.

By leveraging Addyx’s lean exoskeleton methodology, ExoFly enables high-performance lattice structures that enhance efficiency, strength, and cost-effectiveness.

source:ADDYX srl

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Liquid-Crystal Polymer Applications

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Liquid-Crystal Polymer?

A liquid crystal polymer is a material that retains molecular order in both liquid and solid states. Specifically, the transition from order to disorder during the melting of an LCP occurs well above the temperature at which it loses its fully crystallized structure. 

This effectively means that the material has two distinct melting points or, more accurately, two-phase changes. The first phase change takes it from solid to liquid crystal and the next from liquid crystal to a full liquid. The phase between liquid and crystal is referred to as the mesophase and the specific molecules that can form a mesophase are termed mesogens. LCPs can be divided into two main categories, namely lyotropic systems and thermotropic systems.

Lyotropic systems - A liquid crystal that appears with the addition of a solvent.

Thermotropic system - A liquid crystal that appears when heated.

A liquid-crystal polymer is a polymer in which the various mesogen molecules link to form long polymeric chains.

Most commercial LCPs incorporate p-hydroxybenzoic acid as one of the monomers that build molecular chains through various condensation methods. Monomer additives such as bisphenol are then introduced into the p-HBA to lower processing temperatures and allow for easier manufacturing. In addition to these monomers, fillers can be added to the material to further enhance its properties. These fillers can include graphite, fiberglass, or carbon. 

Electrical connectors: LCP plastic can be used to manufacture conductive electrical connectors. They function to eliminate static build-ups and discharges that would otherwise create noise interference in electrical signals.

Vascular catheter reinforcement braiding: Vascular catheters with LCP plastic braiding can be important for patients undergoing MRI scans. Catheters with metallic braiding would interact with the magnetic field generated by the machine.

Surgical instruments: Surgical instruments are sterilized after use via radiation. LCPs are ideal for this because they can withstand the radiation without breaking down.

Cookware coatings : Cookware with non-stick surfaces need to withstand the high-temperature environment of the stove as well as the corrosive effects of dishwashers and acidic foods. LCPs can withstand temperatures up to 280℃ and the coating is not harmed by dishwasher machines. 

source:xometry.com

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share: Toray Innovates Nylon 66 Chemical-Recycled Technology that Boosts Plastic Recycling Rates

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share 

Toray Industries, Inc., announced today a breakthrough in recycling nylon 66. The company recently deployed a proprietary depolymerization technology using subcritical water (see note 1) to depolymerize this resin uniformly and efficiently in just minutes, and recover it as a raw monomer material.

Demand for nylon 66 is estimated at 100,000 metric tons annually in Japan and 1.3 million tons worldwide. Its high heat resistance and strength make it essential for automotive and industrial applications. These include automotive textiles such as airbags and tire cords, and plastic components such as radiator tanks, cylinder head covers, and oil pans. Tighter recycling regulations for automotive and other plastics in Japan have made it mandatory to collect used nylon 66-based airbags, making it a promising material for chemical recycling.

Chemical-recycled nylon 6 (note 2) for which demonstration efforts are underway, entails recovering a monomer called caprolactam. Contrastingly, the process for chemical-recycled nylon 66 requires recovering hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid monomers. Toray drew on its expertise in nylon 6 chemical-recycled technology to assess the depolymerization reaction of nylon 66 in subcritical water. It developed a proprietary technology to suppress side reactions, making it possible to efficiently recover high yields of those two monomers and regenerate nylon 66 through repolymerization. Using Toray’s technology to make nylon 66 should halve carbon dioxide emissions compared with production from petroleum-based sources.

Toray looks to initially target automotive materials, establishing technologies to separate other materials in such used equipment as airbags, and technologies to depolymerize nylon 66 and separate and refine monomers. By 2025, the company plans to set up a framework to verify quality and evaluate customers through sample work. It will prepare for full-fledged mass production in around 2030, when stricter plastic recycling regulations are enacted.

The company will develop a comprehensive nylon recycling technologies for both nylon 6 and nylon 66. It plans to broaden its chemical-recycled technologies beyond apparel and automotive materials to other industrial applications to help create a circular economy and contribute to carbon neutrality.

One goal of the Toray Group Sustainability Vision for 2050 is to contribute to a world where resources are sustainably managed. The company will keep undertaking R&D to realize a sustainable, recycling-oriented society, as part of ongoing efforts to realize its corporate philosophy of “contributing to society through the creation of new value with innovative ideas, technologies and products.

source:Toray

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share: Liquid Crystal Polymers

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Liquid Crystal Polymers

LIQUID CRYSTALS: DISCOVERY 

The origin of liquid crystal study is typically traced back to Austrian chemist and botanist Friedrich Reinitzer. In 1888, he observed and later wrote about the strange behavior of a solid after exposing it to changing temperatures. Using solid cholesteryl benzoate,Reinitzer noticed that at one temperature the solid became a hazy liquid,yet at a higher temperature, the hazy liquid became clear. When cooling the clear liquid, again Reinitzer saw the liquid pass through two different color forms before returning to the original white solid with which he began . Reinitzer had observed two different melting points for the same material – a phenomenon which should not exist. Perplexed by his discovery, Reinitzer forwarded the solid white material along with his findings to Otto Lehmann, a physicist working out of Aachen in what is now present day Germany.

 Lehmann was better equipped to study the material than Reinitzer and expanded upon Reinitzer’s work. Lehmann placed the material which he had received from Reinitzer on a microscope equipped with a heat stage and observed the material while heating it . Lehmann observed the first (intermediate) hazy liquid as the white solid melted just as Reinitzer had. He described seeing crystallites multiple small crystalline formations with irregular borders. Lehmann realized that this first intermediate fluid appeared to be crystalline in nature and that it must in fact be a new state of matter.

After further studying and refining his ideas, Lehmann named his discovery a liquid crystal . Lehmann’s (and Reinitzer’s) observation received significant attention at the time, particularly after Lehmann published his findings in 1900. Indeed, by the early twentieth century nearly 200 other compounds were found to show liquid crystal behavior. However, after this initial attention, no practicable application for this new discovery was forthcoming, and interest in this new area of science soon waned. While Reinitzer and Lehmann are routinely given note as the originators of liquid crystal science, they were also likely aware of earlier work by fellow German Wilhelm Heintz. This highly published and productive chemist had done significant work on fatty acids. By 1850, Heintz had noted that certain natural fats had two different melting points. His observations were nearly identical to Reinitzer’s and Lehmann’s: As Heintz raised the temperature of the fat substance he was analyzing, the substance first became cloudy, then fully opaque. Finally, the substance turned completely clear with continued heating .

Just as Reinitzer’s and Lehmann’s official discovery in time garnered no real appreciation, so was the case with Heintz’s observation on two melting points for a single substance. This observation of two melting points, however, would later become fundamental to identifying a liquid crystal.  

source: Zeus Industrial Products, Inc.

Mitsubishi Chemical Group’s prepreg using plant-derived resin acquires international sustainability and carbon certification ISCC PLUS

In November 2024, the Mitsubishi Chemical Group (the MCG Group) acquired certification of ISCC PLUS an international certification system for sustainable products for its prepreg products using plant-derived resin manufactured at Mitsubishi Chemical Tokai Plant (Aichi). In February 2025, the MCG Group commenced sample work for the BiOpreg #500 series, including carbon fibre prepreg and glass fibre prepreg that are manufactured utilizing the mass balance approach* based on this certification.

Prepreg is an intermediate material in the form of a sheet of carbon fibre or glass fibre impregnated with matrix resin. The MCG Group has been selling prepreg products in which part of the epoxy resin used for impregnation has been replaced with a plant-derived product based on our unique material design technology. However, the new BiOpreg #500 series is manufactured using a plant-derived epoxy resin based on the mass balance approach at Mitsubishi Chemical Tokai Plant (Aichi). The series has acquired ISCC PLUS certification, and we have started sample work. This new product has the same performance as conventional petroleum-derived prepreg, and can be handled and moulded in the same way.

Starting with sports and leisure applications, we will aim to have this product in use in mobility applications, such as interior and exterior materials, as well as industrial applications. In the mobility sector, in particular, there is demand to reduce the environmental impacts of products throughout their entire life cycle, against a backdrop of environmental regulations. The BiOpreg #500 series can contribute to resource conservation and the reduction of greenhouse gases throughout the life cycle of automobiles by using plant-derived raw materials to reduce vehicle weight.

Through the acquisition of this certification and the provision of certified products, the MCG Group will continue to contribute to the social implementation of sustainable products that use recycled and biomass raw materials.

*The mass balance approach is a method of controlling a value chain in which, when multiple raw materials (e.g., a petroleum-derived raw material and a plant-derived raw material) are mixed to manufacture products, the percentage of sustainable raw material used (i.e., the plant-derived raw material) can be allocated to the same percentage of any given product.

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation pledges and declares that it will comply with the requirements of ISCC PLUS certification in accordance with the latest regulations of ISCC.

source:Mitsubishi Chemical / jeccomposites