Renewable Materials and Biotechnology Platform

Solvay already leads the market in a number of bio-based products, including guar gum, bio-sourced solvents and natural vanillin, the latter of which is produced using biotechnology.

The new platform will bring together Solvay’s multiple businesses to meet growing market demand for sustainable solutions by increasing the share of renewable carbon¹ in Solvay’s product portfolio and leveraging biotechnology to develop new business opportunities. need.

¹Renewable carbon includes carbon resources that prevent or replace the use of fossil carbon, including carbon from biomass, carbon dioxide, and recycling.

Using sustainable renewable raw materials

The platform will accelerate the use of sustainable renewable feedstocks for Solvay’s products and will develop new approaches for end-of-life management of these products, including designing with biodegradability in mind. This platform allows Solvay to tap into its enormous innovation potential through internal expertise and strong links with customers and external innovation partners.

Through open innovation and strategic alliances, Solvay will build new growth businesses that benefit multiple markets while helping to meet critical social and environmental needs. These include formulations for the agriculture and personal care markets, solutions for the food and flavor markets, and high-performance materials for the transportation and aerospace markets.

Contribute to the One Planet goal

By facilitating the development of sustainable solutions based on renewable carbon, the platform will also lay the foundation for achieving the 2030 sustainability goals set out in Solvay’s One Planet sustainability roadmap.

Technology that will change the future

Achieving carbon neutrality in the future will require a radical change in the design of the chemical industry. Renewable materials and biotechnology offer Solvay an excellent opportunity to reinvent the way chemicals are produced by combining chemistry and biology to transform raw materials into valuable sustainable solutions. These can serve as a starting point to help Solvay create new growth businesses and expand its customer base.

The use of renewable feedstocks and biotechnology also has the potential to provide solutions to many of the world’s challenges, including pollution, resource scarcity and overpopulation, while also helping to meet growing consumer demand for sustainable products.

Biotechnology is a disruptive technology with the potential to bring profound changes to the chemical industry. It utilizes enzymes or living microorganisms to convert renewable or fossil feedstocks into valuable molecules. As a result, these feedstocks can be used to produce renewable products or help improve end-of-life management of products. In recent years, the rapid development of synthetic biology has revolutionized the field. Fueled by computer tools, artificial intelligence, and advanced laboratory automation, novel gene editing methods have enabled the advancement of biological microbes.

By the end of 2030, synthetic biology will account for more than a third of global manufacturing output. The annual economic impact of biotechnology is expected to exceed 2 trillion euros by 2040.

Solvay’s Four Growth Platforms

The renewable materials and biotechnology platform complements Solvay’s three existing growth platforms, battery materials, green hydrogen and thermoplastic composites.