(631d) Process Development, Scale-up, and Commercialization of a Sustainable Biobased Material

Covation Biomaterials (CovationBio, a June 2022 divestiture of DuPont Biomaterials) has developed and will commercialize a sustainable, biobased material derived from a 2^nd generation biomass. A 2^nd party cradle-to-gate LCA evaluation conducted in accord with relevant ISO standards and 3^rd party certified shows that this material has a significantly lower environmental impact in key categories relative to the petro-based product. The bio-based product will be a drop-in replacement to this petro-based incumbent for multiple derivative products to extend sustainability to these materials.

This presentation will provide an overview of the new monomer process for this material as well as the scale-up methodology employed to develop this sustainable, economically viable manufacturing process. This monomer process features thermochemical conversions incorporating three heterogeneous catalytic reaction steps. The presentation will include a summary of best practices incorporated into the design and operation of a 100 kg/h pilot plant and market development facility such as the development of a dynamic process model to develop control strategies and train operators and a structured risk assessment and mitigation methodology employed to identify and address key technical risks to commercialization. An example performance comparison of an end use application for the material derived from this biobased monomer will be shown showing no apparent difference from the equivalent petro-based material. Finally, a summary of the cradle-to-gate LCA evaluation will be presented to illustrate the proven sustainability of the overall product.