Biobased And Biodegradable Polymers For A Sustainable Future

液体配方聚合物(PLF)是一类广泛的聚合物，在许多日常用品中用作增稠剂、乳化剂和粘合剂，包括家用洗涤剂、化妆品和农用化学品。这些聚合物中的绝大多数来自化石燃料来源，它们在环境中不会降解。英国皇家化学学会最近的一份报告估计，每年有超过3600万吨的这些成分(足以填满温布利体育场32倍)在使用后无法回收，这给环境带来了巨大的负担。尽管它们对社会和全球经济很重要，而且与最近对塑料可持续性的强烈关注形成对比的是，几乎没有协调一致的努力来解决PLF的可持续性问题。有一个明确的要求和需求，使这些重要的成分更加环保；它们是否可以从可再生资源中开发出来，使用后是否可以生物降解？这是我们繁荣伙伴关系的重点。克罗达在包括个人护理、作物护理和制药在内的广泛市场的一些最大、最成功的品牌的高性能配料和技术方面处于全球领先地位。该公司承诺到2030年成为积极的气候、土地和人民，并在此过程中成为最可持续的创新成分供应商。这一雄心正推动该公司利用更大比例的生物原料，通过最节能的工艺将它们转化为性能成分，并考虑产生的材料的寿命终结影响。PLF是Croda产品组合的重要组成部分，为了确保这种材料在未来在经济和环境上是可持续的，需要对PLF的化学、生产和报废命运采取新的方法。要使这一研究领域发生重大变化，推进知识、技术创新和速度至关重要。克罗达已决定联合起来，并在与诺丁汉大学和约克大学现有的牢固关系的基础上，利用联合专业知识加速创新，以促进所需的变化。我们的繁荣伙伴关系将成为催化剂，将地理位置、方法以及最重要的科学适合性方面最好的团队聚集在一起，以应对克罗达目前和未来的挑战。我们将共同应对为PLF应用开发新型生物基和生物可降解材料的挑战，提供与现有合成聚合物同等的性能优势。在这一旅程中，我们将需要建立关于分子结构的结构变化如何影响生物降解性和最终用途性能的知识，同时发展对如何利用这一点来优化目标聚合物的设计和开发的理解。所生产的产品将有助于克罗达的可持续创新目标，将支持克罗达转向净零制造，同时还将积累英国在这一重要领域的专业知识。对于克罗达的客户来说，这些成分将使他们能够减少自己的碳足迹，遵守未来的法规，并朝着自己的可持续发展目标取得重大进展。合作伙伴之间的共同创造和信息共享将是这种方法的基础，使他们有机会利用大学的绿色化学和聚合物专业知识，并增加克罗达对产品性能和市场需求的无与伦比的理解。这一繁荣伙伴关系将为我们提供持续的伙伴关系、资源和人才，以提供解决目前影响我们社会的主要问题所需的临界质量，因为我们正在应对这一关键成分组的可持续性挑战。

Polymers in Liquid Formulations (PLFs) are a broad group of polymers that are used as thickeners, emulsifiers and binders in many day-to-day items including household detergents, cosmetics and agrochemicals. The vast majority of these polymers are derived from fossil fuel sources and they do not degrade in the environment. A recent report from the Royal Society of Chemistry has estimated that more than 36mn tonnes of these ingredients (enough to fill Wembley Stadium 32 times over) are not recovered after use every single year, presenting a significant environmental burden. Despite their importance to society and the global economy, and in contrast to the intense recent focus on the sustainability of plastics, there has been very little coordinated effort to address the sustainability of PLFs. There is a clear requirement and demand to make these vital ingredients more environmentally friendly; could they be developed from renewable resources and could they be biodegradable after their use? This is the key focus of our Prosperity Partnership. Croda is a global leader in high performance ingredients and technologies in some of the biggest, most successful brands in the world across a wide range of markets including Personal Care, Crop Care and Pharma. The company is committed to be Climate, Land and People positive by 2030 and in doing so be the most sustainable supplier of innovative ingredients. This ambition is driving the company to utilise greater proportions of bio-based feedstocks, transform them into performance ingredients through the most energy efficient processes and consider the end-of-life impacts of the materials generated. PLFs form a significant part of Croda's product portfolio and to ensure that this group of materials is economically and environmentally sustainable in the future, new approaches to PLF chemistry, production and end-of-life fate are required. To make a significant step change to this area of research, advancing knowledge, technical innovation and speed is critical. Croda has decided to join forces and build on the existing strong relationship with both the University of Nottingham and the University of York to catalyse the changes required, using joint expertise to accelerate innovation. Our Prosperity Partnership will be the catalyst in bringing together the best teams in terms of location, approach and above all scientific fit to meet Croda's current and future challenges. Collaboratively we will be addressing the challenge of developing novel biobased and biodegradable materials for PLF applications, offering equivalent performance benefits to existing synthetic polymers. On this journey we will need to build knowledge about how structural changes in molecular architecture influence biodegradability and end use performance, alongside developing an understanding of how this is exploited to optimise design and development of target polymers. The products generated will contribute to Croda's sustainable innovation targets, will support Croda's move to Net Zero manufacture, whilst also building UK expertise in this important area. For Croda's customers these ingredients will allow them to reduce their own carbon footprint, comply with future regulations and make significant advances towards their own sustainability goals.Co-creation and sharing of information between the partners will be fundamental to this approach, giving the opportunity to tap into green chemistry and polymer expertise from the Universities and add that to Croda's unrivalled understanding of product performance and market requirements. This Prosperity Partnership will give us continuity of partnerships, resource and talent to provide the critical mass required to tackle this major problem that is affecting our society right now, as we address the sustainability challenges of this essential group of ingredients.