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Renewable chemistry
At a time when petroleum is becoming scarcer and the need to design safe products for the people and the environment is becoming bigger, Sofiprotéol believes renewable chemistry may partially substitute traditional petrochemistry.
An activity which preserve the environment
One of renewable chemistry's goal is to preserve the environment and the natural ressources. Oleon and Novance use renewable raw materials: vegetable oils (rapeseed, sunflower, palm, soy, coconut) and animal fats (tallow). They offer renewable and environmentally friendly products and solutions to their industrial customers, as an alternative to traditional fossil ones. They also offer specialty products with unique properties that do not exist in the area of traditional chemistry.
Oleochemistry products are already used in many sectors and industries:
- agri-food,
- hygiene, detergents, and cleaning products,
- cosmetics,
- plastics and rubber,
- paints and coatings,
- crop protection,
- and more.
Soon, these products will be indispensable in other fields too. Intermediate products or synthons, for example, will play a role in synthesizing biopolymers to obtain ecological plastics.
As part of the Grenelle Environment Round Table, the Union of Chemical Industries (UIC) has committed to use 15% renewable raw materials by 2017 (compared to 7% in 2007). This goal cannot be achieved without major developments in oleochemistry, as well as sugar and starch chemistry.
Novance and Oleon: 2 subsidiaries at the cutting edge of innovation
Innovation is paramount in the field of renewable chemistry. The research work includes new applications in personal hygiene, detergents, pesticides and intermediates.
Innovation allowed Novance to develop the first aqueous paint made with vegetable oils which hold the European Ecolabel. It developed a range of lubricants 100% vegetable, marketed under the name DIESTERlub. This range of products has received a medal in the category "Specific Product" of the 2010 Pierre Potier Prize.
