Mar 8 2010
The Lorraine Regional Council has joined forces with Arkema and two university laboratories to back a research program into "biobased acrylics", the challenge of the project being to offer new "green" acrylic acid derivatives and develop a biosourced chemical activity in the Lorraine region.
Christian Collette, Arkema Research & Development Vice President, and Jean-Pierre Masseret, President of the Lorraine Regional Council, today signed a research agreement on "bio-based acrylics" at Arkema’s CRDE (Centre de Recherche et de Développement de l’Est) R&D Center in Carling.
This joint research program will aim to develop an industrial process for the synthesis of glycerol – a by-product of the processing of rapeseed into bio-diesel – into acrylic acid*, hitherto produced from propylene, a fossil resource. The eventual objective will be to establish in the Lorraine region an expertise hub in biobased chemistry and in particular glycerol, available in large quantities in the region. The program will represent some €11M expenditure over three years.