Bio-based innovation: making circular polymers from sugar

Phosphorus is a critical nutrient used as agricultural fertilizer. Through human digestion, it is returned to the water cycle through wastewater. In the first episode of our podcast series, Chemistry with a purpose, we speak to Matthias Staub, Development Director of Water at Veolia, a leader in municipal wastewater treatment. The company is currently testing Kemira's new Vivimag phosphorous recovery technology, which has promising implications for the circular economy.   Interested in learning more, visit kemira.com

In this episode, we talk to Michael Carus one of Europe's leading experts in the area of Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU). Energy-intensive industries are facing increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions. Especially the chemical industry needs to be inventive in how to replace fossil carbon feedstock, since decarbonization is not an option. One solution to the matter could be the capture of carbon. As the technology advances, exploring the use of captured carbon has matured. Today we are discussing CCU and the opportunities for producing critical chemical building blocks. 

Today’s fashion industry is faced with a great challenge – textile waste. Fast fashion and accelerated trend cycles have led to mounting clothing waste and few solutions to solve it at scale. Industry innovators like the Finnish clothing brand Pure Waste are eager to help solve this problem by offering clothing made from recycled fibers. A new type of recycling based on chemistry could help make this happen. In this episode, we speak to two experts: Jukka Pesola, founder and chairman of the board of Pure Waste, and Kaisa Karisalmi, an expert from Kemira who specializes in chemistry for recycling fibers. 

Christian Lenges is an innovation expert at International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), one of Kemira’s collaboration partners in the quest to develop fully bio-based polymers that outperform traditional fossil-based derived products. In this episode of Chemistry with a purpose we catch up with Christian to learn more about the challenges and opportunities of making polymers from sugar instead of fossil-based raw materials.