A German supplier of high-tech polymers has been named as the winner of the ‘Bio-based Material of the Year’ award for 2015.
Bayer MaterialScience AG (BMS) was chosen from six finalists to win the award, hosted by the nova-Institute for Ecology and Innovation.
The competition seeks to highlight innovative new applications and markets for bio-based products (those derived from living organisms), with a focus on developments with a market launch in 2014/15.
‘Desmodur eco N’, the winning entry from the Leverkusen-based manufacturer, is a bio-based polyurethane cross-linker for high-performance automotive coatings. It is said to be the ‘the world’s first bio-based cross linker for high-performance coatings in the car industry’.
The material enables the production of bio-based polyurethanes for the coating of cars, providing weather resistance, ‘self-healing’ properties for superficial scratches, and ‘great optical properties’.
According to BMS, the development of bio-based polyurethanes has been limited by the need for a cross-linker based on renewable feedstock. BMS’s product seeks to bridge this gap while not losing performance. Approximately 70 per cent of the material’s carbon content comes from biomass and it is produced using energy-efficient gas-phase technology to minimise its carbon footprint.
The final deliberation took place at the 8th International Conference on Bio-based Materials in Cologne on 13 April, with the jury praising the performance of BMS’s product for being ‘equal to that of petrochemical linkers’.
Each of the nominated finalists gave a ten-minute presentation to the 220 conference attendees, who then voted to find the top three entries.
In second place was German designer HIB TripPart Solutions with a hemp-based plastic ‘Nature 50’. EcoTechnilin Ltd, a producer of non-woven mats based in Cambridge, was voted into third place with ‘FibriRock’ – a bio-sourced, fast-curing composite for aircraft applications.
The three winning entries were awarded a certificate at the event and will receive a directory listing on the nova-Institute website.
Find out more about the ‘Bio-Based Material of the Year’ award and the finalist products.
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