Nordmann-partner Evonik Operations GmbH is making a solid contribution toward a more environmentally conscious future. Investments are being directed into research efforts to seek out new bio-based products so that new and even existing monomers can be produced using appropriate amounts of biocontent. On top of the work the company is doing to analyze and reduce greenhouse gas emissions along the entire supply chain and to optimize processes according to the highest possible degree of resource efficiency, Evonik Operations GmbH considers the use of biobased raw materials to be another especially important part of its sustainability strategy.

MONOMERS FROM RENEWABLE RAW MATERIALS

This aim is reflected in Evonik Operations GmbH’s portfolio of methacrylate monomers, which are used in a wide range of applications that includes paints, coatings, automotive construction, adhesives and cosmetics. The range features monomers that require either no or only very minimal hazard labeling; VISIOMER® 1,6-HDDMA or BDGMA, for example, need no such labeling at all. The company’s portfolio also contains methacrylate monomers with very low vapor pressure (e.g. VISIOMER® BNMA, c-HMA or PEG200DMA). “Additionally, we can supply customers with six different monomers from Evonik Operations GmbH that feature a high proportion of renewable raw materials. These include, for example, the high-solids monomer VISIOMER® Terra IBOMA, which enables the formulation of environmentally friendly adhesives or coatings. It is based on camphene, a raw material that is largely obtained from pine resin and which consists of 100% renewable feedstock. The resin can even be harvested without harming  the pines,” says Andreas Jung, Technical Sales Manager at Nordmann. The monomers in the VISIOMER® Terra product family (see table) offer customers two advantages at once: they each contain a high proportion of renewable raw materials and require relatively few hazard warnings (GHS hazard symbols) on the label.