Evonik Industries opened a pilot plant in Slovakia in 2013 to produce sustainable high-performance plastics using biobased ω-amino lauric acid as an alternative to petroleum-based materials. The process, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, uses renewable resources like palm kernel oil and has the potential to revolutionize the production of polyamide 12.
Essen, In early 2013, Evonik Industries began operating a pilot plant for ω-amino lauric acid (ALS) in Slovenska Lupca, Slovakia. The effort represents Evonik’s next step forward in the production of sustainable high-performance plastics. The biobased ω-amino-lauric acid is an alternative to petroleum-based laurin lactam (LL). ALS replaces the monomer LL in the manufacture of sustainable high-performance plastics and yields an identical compound polyamide 12 (PA 12). The pilot plant is the result of intensive research and advances the process development effort to an industrial scale.
Development of the process was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Promotion No. 0315205). The biotechnological process relies on renewable resources and is unique the world over. Palm kernel oil, which Evonik has already been using as a base for various other chemical products, is the starting material. Over the long run, the entirely new process has the potential to complement the butadiene-based production of PA12.