Arkema drives coatings' defossilization with Catalyxx

Source: Chemical Week

Partnerships to play key role in scaling bio-based solutions with lower carbon footprint

Arkema SA aims to replicate in the acrylic chain the approach that the company has already demonstrated in the castor value chain in order to advance defossilization in coatings through the use of bio-derived feedstocks, according to Richard Jenkins, senior vice president/coating solutions at Arkema.

“Arkema is well known for its bio-based materials platforms in high-performance polymers, notably its castor-based chemistry. Within its coating solutions segment, the focus shifts to how that model can be applied to the acrylics chain,” Jenkins told CW.

The coating solutions segment includes resins, rheology and specialty additives and UV-curable materials.

The opportunity lies in using new chemistry and broader formulation toolkits, including bio-derived content, to address performance and sustainability challenges for customers, according to Jenkins. This requires a full value-chain approach, he said.

“The transition is inherently partnership-driven. No single company controls every step required to design the right material solution, validate it with customers, and industrialize it at commercial scale,” he said.

Catalyxx technology

Arkema believes that it has a key role to play in the value chain, connecting downstream needs with upstream innovation, according to Julie Haevermans, vice president/marketing, coating solutions at Arkema.

That is the reason the company is working closely with partners such as the sustainable chemistry company Catalyxx, (Chesterfield, Missouri), to advance innovative technologies for more bio-based materials, Haevermans said.

Arkema already supplies acrylic materials that can be used in construction applications such as paints, coatings, sealants and adhesives. As the company learns more about how to achieve sustainable inputs, it improves its ability to tailor solutions to customer needs across different markets, ranging from construction to batteries and photovoltaic applications, she said.

Sustainability targets vary by application, meaning that in some cases, customers seek renewable-based, bio-based inputs, while in others, the emphasis is on a lower carbon footprint, Haevermans said.

Catalyxx’s technology is positioned as bio-based while also delivering a lower carbon footprint than other bio-based options, addressing the carbon-related dimension of sustainability, she said.

“Scaling these solutions is also a key part of the story. Consumers in paints, for example, want more responsible products but typically resist paying a premium for them. The new market trend is a shift away from high, headline bio-based percentages and large carbon reductions to more moderate claims but on a wider offer base. The message becomes more about balancing bio content and carbon reduction while maintaining affordability and performance,” Haevermans told CW.

Catalyxx’s innovation is contributing to this step-change by supporting solutions that can be brought to scale rather than remaining limited to premium niche offerings, she said.

Catalyxx is planning to build a “first of its kind” industrial facility in Europe to produce bio-alcohols, including bio n-butanol, from bioethanol, based on a patented technology. Details about the exact location and amount of investment have not been disclosed.

“We take bioethanol to produce defossilized, molecularly identical forms of key chemical intermediates — butanol, hexanol and higher alcohol blends. These products can then be used by Arkema to supply a product that decarbonizes upstream. Catalyxx’s products have been tested and certified as 100% renewable, with a carbon negative footprint,” Joaquín Alarcón, founder and CEO at Catalyxx, told CW.

Chemical markets are Catalyxx’s initial focus, allowing coatings companies such as Arkema, as well as companies in the solvents and surfactants, flavors and fragrances, and home and personal care markets, to decarbonize and defossilize their products, Alarcón said.

“However, there is also a tremendous opportunity to scale up our technology for the fuels sector, including marine and jet fuels, diesel, and gasoline. Expansion into fuels will not only allow us to access an enormous market seeking low-carbon solutions, but also, due to economies of scale, make our process and chemical products that much more competitive,” he said.

Demand drivers

The current environment has reinforced the need to reduce dependence on fossil feedstocks and move toward renewable alternatives, according to Arkema’s Haevermans. Successive crises have strengthened that view across the value chain, she said.

Regional drivers differ. In Europe, demand is being shaped largely by energy efficiency requirements and carbon-footprint reduction. The European Green Deal, net-zero targets for 2050 and related climate plans are pushing companies to lower emissions across their value chains, she added. For Arkema’s customers, raw materials can represent 50% to 80% of total carbon emissions. That makes the value chain highly interdependent, as customers’ ability to meet their climate commitments depends heavily on their suppliers, just as Arkema depends on its own suppliers for reductions in raw-material-related Scope emissions, Haevermans said. Disruptive bio-based enabling technologies can help provide solutions with a lower carbon footprint, she said. In Europe, carbon is a major driver, but sustainability is not limited to carbon reduction, she added.

In the US, the emphasis is more on health and indoor air quality, according to Haevermans. For paints, that means lower VOCs, lower odor and growing interest in bio-based content.

“The first generation of bio-based paints is being positioned as part of a healthier product offering: low odor, low VOC and bio-based, with renewable inputs viewed as preferable to fossil petroleum-based materials in paint formulations,” she said.

US demand is also being pulled by market leaders and state-level policies that increasingly support green purchasing, she said, adding that these dynamics are helping create demand for bio-based and lowerimpact coating solutions.

ln Asia, demand is also being driven by improved health and clean environments, with indoor air quality being a key driver. Bio-based paints have been launched in the region, but the market has not yet moved strongly toward second-generation bio-based products or lower-carbon claims, Haevermans said. Those drivers could develop as companies establish sustainability commitments and seek new ways to differentiate, she noted.

Scaling bio-based solutions

While the addressable market for products such as biobutanol is measured in millions of metric tons, early commercial volumes for emerging bio-based intermediates may be only in the tens of thousands of metric tons, according to Jean-Christophe Leveugle, senior global director/strategy coating solutions at Arkema.

As a result, downstream companies are moving early to secure access to limited supply and position themselves in the developing value chain, he said.

For adhesives and coatings producers, the challenge goes beyond replacing fossil-based raw materials with bio-based alternatives, Leveugle said. New materials must also deliver the required technical performance, and ideally provide improved functionality. That makes formulation expertise critical, as the new products cannot rest solely on their bio-based content but should also be supported by performance, he said.

The industry's use of the term decarbonization can be misleading, according to Leveugle. "ln many chemical applications, carbon remains essential. The objective is not to remove carbon from chemistry, but to replace fossil carbon with rapidly renewable carbon. ln that sense, the transition is more accurately described as defossilization," Leveugle told CW. That distinction forms the foundation for a new bio-based value chain, he said. To build this new value chain, a clearview of the global market for biomaterials is necessary, including the companies developing them and the technologies used to produce them, he added.

The next step is to develop the solution upstream in a way that creates value for downstream industries, including paints and coatings and their end-use markets, according to Leveugle. This requires a clear assessment of economics, affordability and the real cost of carbon reduction. The main technology routes are fermentation and catalytic conversion, Leveugle said. Both have roles to play, but the choice of route depends ultimately on technology efficiency and economics, he said. After assessing several potential partners and technologies, the catalytic conversion route emerged as the preferred option for meeting those quality standards, he said.

"Scale is the critical issue. No single company is likely to deliver an economically viable solution on its own. The development of bio-based chemical value chains will require networks of companies spanning different applications, feedstocks and technologies. lndividual companies can play an important role, but they will be part of a broader ecosystem rather than the sole driver," Leveugle said.

For Jenkins, demand creation at the application level is essential to building the scale needed to improve project economics across the chemical value chain. Too often, the industry assesses these questions through a narrow molecule-by-molecule lens, rather than considering the broader ecosystem that ultimately determines cost, adoption and returns, he said. "Even where the molecule carries a premium, it can enable superior economics in the final solution by improving performance, reducing system costs or creating down-stream benefits," Jenkins said.

That shifts the discussion from the molecule's footprint to its handprint -from what it costs to what it enables, he said. For an industry often anchored in commodity pricing debates, this is a strategically important distinction, he said.

Affordability is critical

Corporate climate commitments are creating a clear mandate to reduce emissions and lower dependence on fossil carbon, Haevermans said. Meanwhile, brand owners are looking to use claims around health, renewability, circularity and lower carbon intensity to differentiate products and appeal to consumers and professional users seeking more responsible purchasing options, she said.

"The critical issue is affordability. Climate targets may drive initial engagement, but consumer- and professional-facing markets will only scale if lower-carbon products can be offered at a competitive price. That requirement is now shaping innovation strategies across the value chain and securing access to these strategic bio feedstocks,'' Haevermans said.

As a result, innovation is shifting toward formulation intelligence. Producers are looking at how to incorporate renewable content into existing fossil-based systems in a way that manages cost while still delivering measurable sustainability benefits, she said. "Rather than pursuing fully bio-based products with high claims and high premiums, the market is moving toward more accessible solutions at large offer scale, for example, products with 10%-20% renewable content or a modest reduction in carbon footprint," she said.

The shift is being shaped primarily by the customer and, ultimately, the consumer, according to Jenkins. The industry remains in an exploratory phase, with coatings producers testing different sustainability propositions through pilot launches and limited commercial offerings, he said. "The central challenge remains: A bio-based or lower-carbon product must still meet the technical requirements of the application, align with customer expectations and be affordable enough to scale."