Kemira and IFF partnership expands to production of renewable materials

Kemira and IFF partnership expands to production of renewable materials

Kemira and IFF announced today the next step towards the commercialization of the Designed Enzymatic Biomaterial (“DEB”) platform, a cutting-edge biotechnology process that enables production of new renewable polymers with enzymatic polymerization. These renewable materials will become available at entry level industrial scale to drive market development and to provide supply to first-mover customers across markets. The new production facility will be integrated into an existing biorefinery in Finland, and it will be operated by Finnamyl Oy / Chemigate Ltd (a member of the Berner Group) through a contract manufacturing arrangement. The manufacturing facility will be operational in late 2024.

IFF and Kemira have been collaborating in an exclusive partnership to bring new, renewable products into Kemira’s strategic markets for pulp, paper and packaging as well as industrial and municipal water treatment. Kemira has been advancing application development programs with lead customers to confirm demand for this breakthrough innovation, with particular focus in strength, dewatering and barrier applications for the packaging industry.

“This is a major step in our growth strategy implementation and our journey to build the leading renewable materials portfolio for our customers. This innovative biotechnology platform enables production of renewable polymers which combine high performance with significant improvements in sustainability profile, including end-of-life properties such as recyclability and biodegradability. We are very excited to scale-up new alternatives to the fossil-based products, without compromising performance and competitiveness,” says Sampo Lahtinen, SVP Growth Accelerator, Kemira Oyj.

“In today’s world, innovation must go hand-in-hand with sustainability. It is a topic of conversation at nearly every customer meeting we have,” says Christian Lenges, IFF Venture Director. “For years, “green” products were deemed inferior in performance and affordability to fossil-based alternatives. We are very proud that by using our unmatched strengths in bioscience we have been able to develop the DEB technology platform and can provide first commercial scale increments for our partners and customers”.

Tom Schauman, Chemigate CEO, continues: “Implementing new world-class biotechnology innovation within the Chemigate biorefinery leverages the local capabilities and is aligned with our strategic goals to support sustainable material manufacture”.