Title: Deposit control polymers made from wood: Production, performance, and sustainability
Learner Objectives:
How can I control particulate and scale deposition with renewable sustainable polymers?
Content/Topic Outline:
- Biopolymers are produced out of wood
- Controlling molecular weight and charge density will provide performance rivals to synthetic polycarboxylates.
- Biopolymers are produced with a low carbon footprint.
Presenter:
- Ross Ellis PhD
Biopolymers R&D for Borregaard in Norway
Presentation Description:
The water treatment industry has long relied on petroleum-based polymers to control particulate and scale deposits. Sustainable replacements for these crucial additives must be based on renewable feedstocks with comparable cost-performance. Borregaard has developed a new generation of biopolymers from wood at their biorefinery in Norway. These technologies utilize purified lignin as the polymer backbone, providing a versatile scaffold from nature’s most robust biopolymer. Controlling molecular weight, charge, and amphiphilicity yields dispersion and scale inhibition performance that rivals common synthetic polycarboxylates, with good thermal and chemical tolerance. The use of lignin – an abundant and industrially available biomaterial – allows these additives to be produced efficiently at scale with a very low carbon footprint. Presented is an overview of the biorefinery process, dispersion and scale inhibition performance results, and environmental footprint (LCA) of the new biopolymers.
Presenter Bio:
Since completing his PhD at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) in 2009, Ross has since enjoyed a career as a research scientist in the specialty chemical and processing industries. Working first with precious metal separations processes at Johnson Matthey (England), then studying micellar systems for nuclear energy applications at the Department of Energy (USA), and now developing biopolymer products and applications at Borregaard (Norway), Ross has a breadth of international experience that covers many different disciplines of applied chemistry.