CASE STUDY
CRODA AND THE UNIVERSITIES OF NOTTINGHAM AND YORK: A PROSPERITY PARTNERSHIP TO DELIVER BIO-BASED AND BIODEGRADABLE POLYMERS An AI-aided interdisciplinary ‘prosperity partnership’ has set its sights on developing new building blocks for biodegradable polymers.
The industry-academia collaboration aims to demonstrate the potential of bio-based monomers that can create more sustainable polymers in liquid formulations (PLFs). It will also look at the end of life, highlighting polymers that possess acceptable biodegradability rates. The anticipated outcome is a collection of new PLFs demonstrating a range of performance characteristics and degradation rates that will fulfil the needs of Croda’s broad customer base. With significant resources available at two world-class centres of green and sustainable chemistry, this could lead to the synthesis of a vast library of functional, eco-friendly PLFs. The partnership will incorporate machine learning, which will maximise efficiency by analysing the vast number of potential target monomers and polymers. There are even potential policy benefits as data sharing concerning structure- performance degradability could help to deliver new standards. The academic community will also benefit too, with all findings shared through peer-reviewed publications, conferences and events.
A key early challenge was identifying the opportunities for new biobased and biodegradable polymers within Croda’s portfolio, with the Nottingham and York experts uniquely positioned to address this. Through a series of facilitated workshops, scientists from all three organisations co-created the research programme, with senior company executives ensuring the project focused on commercially relevant outcomes. The unique flexibility offered by the EPSRC Prosperity Partnership scheme was ideal to fund the research programme. Another benefit is that it will provide significant learning opportunities and enhanced career prospects for postgraduate and PhD students working with us on this project. This alliance creates synergies for PLF production and there are hopes the work will lead to collaborations with the UK Catalysis Hub. UK expertise in the use of techniques including microwave reactors, supercritical CO 2 and other safer solvents will also increase.
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