Chemical modification of EcoSphere® biobased nanoparticles using flow chemistry

EcoSynthetix是生物基材料的领先技术和市场开发商。生态圈®产品平台通过专有工艺制造，由可再生资源制成，由粘合剂组成，在全球范围内被用作纸张涂布应用中石油基乳液聚合物的绿色替代品。除了环保效益外，ECOSPOPE®平台还可节省成本并增强性能。该公司正在寻求扩大其产品范围，这需要用于造纸、木材复合材料、废水处理和铁矿石球团加工的新化学功能。传统的工业生产过程使用浆料批次或干式连续 在淀粉颗粒加工过程中，一般仅限于化学取代不均匀的低取代度产品。在经济和性能方面，开发一种反应效率高、改性方式均匀的淀粉纳米水分散体新工艺具有显著的优势。这将导致产品在成本/性能平衡方面具有更高的价值主张。将使用流动化学方法来实现这些目标。将开发一个与工业相关的微型流程，以建立概念验证。该项目的总体目标是探索和开发反应条件，以便在流动条件下在不同的替代水平下有效地实现高反应效率。该项目还打开了直接实施到 生产消除了传统的繁琐的“放大”。这一倡议将得到全球公认的流动化学领域的先驱和专家Michael Organ教授的支持。

EcoSynthetix is a leading technology and market developer of biobased materials. Manufactured via a proprietary process and made from renewable resources, the EcoSphere® product platform consists of binders that are globally used as a green replacement for petroleum-based emulsion polymers in paper coating applications. In addition to environmental benefits, the EcoSphere® platform offers cost savings and enhanced performance. The company is looking to expand its range of products, which requires new chemical functionalities for the preparation of paper, in wood composites, waste-water treatment, and for iron ore pelletization. The conventional industrial manufacturing process uses either a slurry batch or a dry continuous process on starch granules and is generally constrained to products with low substitution degree having non-uniform chemical substitution. For economics and performance, there is a significant advantage to develop a novel process of aqueous starch nanoparticle dispersions with high reaction efficiency and a homogeneous modification pattern. This would lead to products having an enhanced value proposition in terms of their cost/performance balance. A flow chemistry approach will be used to achieve these objectives. A miniaturized process with industrial relevance will be developed to establish proof-of-concept. The overall objective of the project is to explore and develop reaction conditions to efficiently realize high reaction efficiency at various substitution levels in flow conditions. The project also opens the possibility of a direct implementation into production eliminating the traditional cumbersome 'scale-up'. This initiative will be supported by Professor Michael Organ, a globally recognized pioneer and expert in the field of flow chemistry.