The demand for sustainable alternatives to petroleum products is constantly increasing as companies look for environmentally friendly compounds to use in important industrial applications.
Bio-based chemicals involve sustainable and renewable means to acquire, create, and develop chemical compounds. Gantrade offers several bio-based chemical alternatives for our customers.
What Are Bio-Based Chemicals?
Bio-based products are “derived from plants and other renewable agricultural, marine and forestry materials.” These bio-based products provide an alternative to the synthetic, petroleum-derived products of the past or supplement and work in tandem with petroleum-based products. Bio-based products address the adverse environmental and economic factors of using traditional petroleum-based chemicals and chemical compounds.
The bio-based chemical sector is growing fast, with the market forecasted to double from $77 billion in 2021 to $144 billion in 2028. The Asia-Pacific region is the largest consumer of bio-based products, followed closely by Europe and North America.
Attitudes toward sustainability and ecology dominate today’s consumer market, and governments are beginning to recognize the importance of a shift towards biologically based chemicals and products.
Types of Bio-Based Chemicals
Bio-based chemicals are used in a variety of different products, including:
- Bioplastics
- Polymers and Polyesters
- Biolubricants
- Biosurfactants including cleaners
- Plant oils and Resins
- Biofuels
In turn, these bio-based chemicals can be refined and sold on the growing market for renewables. These chemicals are used in a variety of industries, including automotive, biomedical, cosmetics, construction, and much more.
Green Chemistry vs Bio-Based Chemistry
“Green chemistry” is an umbrella term for chemistry that seeks to be safe and environmentally friendly. Green chemistry involves the pillars of safer chemicals, waste prevention, energy efficiency, and the use of renewable materials with the goal of reducing overall environmental impact.
Bio-based chemistry falls into the realm of green chemistry, specifically with its use of biomass for the creation and production of raw materials. Due to the uncertain nature of the future of petroleum and petroleum derivatives, the research and production associated with bio-based chemicals have never been more important.
Resources Used for Bio-Based Chemistry
The main sources of raw materials for use in the field of bio-based chemistry are plant derivatives. These include starchy crops such as corn and potatoes, oily crops such as sunflower and soybeans, straw, hemp, wood, and resinous trees such as pine. From these, useful biological derivatives such as sugars, oils, resins, and biomass can be obtained and refined into products or product components for a variety of industries.
Benefits of Bio-Based Chemicals
The benefits of using bio-based chemicals are multifaceted. The use of bio-based chemicals in place of petroleum-based chemical derivatives leads to a decrease in many of the adverse side effects of petroleum use.
One such adverse effect is greenhouse gas emissions, which pose a great threat to humanity going forward. The use of bio-based chemicals also opens up opportunities for new uses for farming worldwide.
Another is the necessity of importing oil, resulting in a trade deficit with other nations and making governments dependent on other countries for a great majority of their manufacturing output.
The widespread adoption of bio-based chemicals can be feasible through agrarian means domestically for many countries. Traditional cash crops, such as corn and many types of trees, are used for current bio-based chemicals, increasing a country’s ability to have self-reliance and independence in manufacturing.
Gantrade’s Bio-Based Chemicals
Gantrade is an experienced, respected, world-class supplier of chemicals, ranging from vinyls, diols, and polyols, to resins, acrylics, and solvents. We view the creation of bio-based chemicals as part of our commitment to corporate social responsibility.
Gantrade has a portfolio of bio-based glycols and linear polyester polyols derived from 100-percent renewable content for application in the performance segment of polyurethane elastomers.
To better understand how our bio-based chemicals can support your needs, please contact us or request an SDS datasheet.
