AMSTERDAM – AkzoNobel's Specialty Chemicals business has finalized the first application agreement for biobased polymers to result from its collaboration with specialty polymers company Itaconix. Announced earlier this year, the joint development agreement involves AkzoNobel's Performance Additives unit developing applications for Itaconix polymers to be used in the coatings and construction industries.

"We are pleased to be announcing the first in a series of agreements to develop these polymers for commercial use," said Peter Nieuwenhuizen, RD&I Director for AkzoNobel's Specialty Chemicals business. Nieuwenhuizen detailed the development during a presentation at the BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology in Montreal.

"Being able to incorporate polymers made from renewable biobased raw materials will give a significant sustainability advantage for our customers and also fits closely with our own Planet Possible sustainability agenda of doing more with less," he said.

Under the agreement, Itaconix will contribute its proprietary polymers from itaconic acid, which are obtained from sugars through fermentation. Continued Nieuwenhuizen, "In addition to applications in coatings and construction materials, biobased polymers have the potential to be used in a range of other everyday essentials, ranging from improving water quality to cleaning and hygiene products."