Over his more than 30 years in the business, Mike Saltzberg has seen firsthand how sustainability has grown to be of equal consideration with technical performance and cost in the development of new biomaterials.<\/p>\n
Saltzberg is the Global Business Director for Biomaterials at DuPont Industrial Biosciences, the team that ideates and develops products derived from bio-based materials. Among their innovations is DuPont\u2122 Sorona\u00ae, a partially plant-based fiber increasingly used in apparel and carpet.<\/p>\n
We spoke with Saltzberg to learn more about the evolution of biomaterials and products such as Sorona\u00ae.<\/p>\n
Throughout your 30+-year career at DuPont, with the last 12 being involved with Biomaterials, how has your work evolved as sustainability gained more traction as a global priority? What do you see as the biggest levers to create change in the materials science space?<\/p>\n
Mike Saltzberg: It used to be that people would always talk about technical performance and cost whenever they were thinking about a new material, and sustainability was sort of a nice-to-have or compliance mandatory because of regulations. It\u2019s come to the point now where the sustainability of a material \u2014 where it comes from, how it\u2019s made, what its end-of-life scenarios are \u2014 has become at least of equal importance to technical performance and cost.<\/p>\n
For us, dialling in sustainability has become much more important as time\u2019s gone on. As materials suppliers, we can affect broad ranges in multiple industries. We can have a big impact because our customers, who are making the products that consumers or industry want to buy, are counting on us to bring them more sustainable materials that will still work in their processes. We have a role to play in bringing out more sustainable materials that also have high performance that can meet the customer\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n
This project that we\u2019re known for, DuPont Sorona \u2014 we started working on that more than 20 years ago. So, this thought process has been around at DuPont for quite some time. If you\u2019re starting with something really innovative, to research the idea and get it through to the market takes time.<\/p>\n
DuPont\u2122 Sorona\u00ae is made up of 37 percent annually renewable plant-based ingredients \u2014 can you walk us through the process of how it is made?<\/p>\n
MS: Like many polymers, Sorona is made of two different chemicals that are reacted together to form the material itself. One of those is a monomer \u2014 a traditional chemical that\u2019s used in making lots of other kinds of plastic. For example, the PET that\u2019s in polyester fabrics or water and soda bottles \u2014 one of the chemicals is essentially identical to that. But the other one is called bio-PDO \u2014 a chemical we make through a fermentation process. To make beer, you feed live yeast some sugar and it turns that sugar into alcohol; our process uses a different microorganism and we feed it corn sugar. Then we take that bio-PDO, purify it and react it together with another chemical to form a polymer called DuPont Sorona.<\/p>\n
The beginning of the bio-PDO process was commercialized in October of 2006, and the Sorona business kicked off in January of 2007. So, we\u2019ve been around now for about 11-and-a-half years. It\u2019s a fantastic polymer that has some really nice properties. For example, Sorona makes a carpet that\u2019s super soft and resilient and has built-in stain resistance that doesn\u2019t require any chemicals on the surface. In apparel, it gives some of the garments stretch, similar to what you can do with spandex but a little bit different; a lot of softness, a lot of comfort. It was a difficult and expensive process to make both of the chemicals that are required to make it from petroleum. So, using this natural process from a renewable intermediate is not only more environmentally friendly, it\u2019s also more effective and lower cost.<\/p>\n
How do you see sustainability, product performance and innovation interacting when it comes to materials development?<\/p>\n
MS: A lot of times in the biomaterials space, customers are asked to compromise. They\u2019re told, \u201cHere\u2019s a product that doesn\u2019t work quite as well as the one made from petroleum, but it\u2019s natural or it\u2019s made from renewable resources. It doesn\u2019t have the same technical performance, but you should use it anyway because the process is better.\u201d Or, \u201cHere\u2019s a material that can do what you want it to do and has a better sustainability profile, but it\u2019s substantially more expensive.\u201d Our belief is that\u2019s not going to work.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re trying to have significant impact. We don\u2019t just want to have niche, little products for those with higher income. We try to come up with solutions that first and foremost, have fantastic technical performance that will sell based on that. There\u2019s a knock on biomaterials that they\u2019re worse-performing, but ours are not; Sorona is a better polymer [than its petroleum-based alternative]. There also has to be a cost point that if it is a little bit more, the value has to be there so that the product sells itself.<\/p>\n
For us, sustainability is now table stakes. We\u2019re not ever going to bring out a new material that doesn\u2019t, for example, have a better life cycle analysis (LCA) and a responsible end-of-life story. All of the materials that we bring out at DuPont Biomaterials have a substantially better LCA than the materials they replace and are either recyclable or biodegradable. That\u2019s how we approach it: Performance first and sustainability integrated, too. Otherwise, why are we spending the innovation to introduce a new material? If it\u2019s not better in all the dimensions, we shouldn\u2019t be bringing it to market.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a great story for Sorona. It\u2019s been embraced by the market \u2014 and the business has grown. We\u2019ll be over $300 million this year in sales.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s great to hear that there\u2019s been such a strong shift towards valuing LCA and improving end-of-life practices.<\/p>\n
MS: The big retailers and consumer product companies have recognized that their consumers care about that now. So, they\u2019re now telling the materials suppliers, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to meet my sustainability goals.\u201d In the past, consumers were just talking about it. They were not changing their buying behavior; if you wanted them to pay an extra penny or do something that was a little bit inconvenient, they wouldn\u2019t do it. That\u2019s really changed. It\u2019s a generational change and a mindset change \u2014 that\u2019s what\u2019s driving the consumer product groups and then they drive us.<\/p>\n
To your earlier point, as a materials supplier, you can also influence upstream producers and product manufacturers, as well.<\/p>\n
MS: There\u2019s no doubt. We have to reach all the way back \u2014 some of our partners are involved in the actual harvesting of the corn, and we have to go all the way back to that to make sure it\u2019s all done in the right way.<\/p>\n
DuPont Sorona.
\nIf you look at what consumer product groups do, they don\u2019t have the research and development capability to make new materials, so they\u2019re kind of stuck with the same toolbox of materials trying to make new products. There\u2019s a limited amount of impact they can have from that toolbox; they require us to bring them new tools in the form of new materials so they can make new and better products.<\/p>\n
You recently launched a new partnership with Archer Daniels Midland. Can you tell us more about this partnership and why we should be excited about it?<\/p>\n
MS: Archer Daniels Midland is the world\u2019s largest processor of corn; they have expertise in how to get renewable feedstocks that can be used to make renewable chemicals. They also are a company with deep knowledge of the chemistry of carbohydrates such as corn starch. Working with them, we\u2019ve developed a process to take fructose from corn starch and through a chemical process \u2014 not a biotech process, in this case \u2014 and can make a monomer called FDME. That monomer allows us to make a family of polymers called furan polymers that have really exciting properties for beverage packaging.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve ever noticed that a plastic water bottle is much thinner than a plastic soda bottle, it\u2019s because that soda bottle not only has to keep the liquid contained but it also has to keep the carbonation inside, so the soda doesn\u2019t go flat. PET isn\u2019t great at doing that, which is why they have to put a pretty thick wall on it to keep the CO2 inside. You could greatly reduce the amount of plastic and still maintain the same shelf life of the soda if you could keep the barrier properties needed to hold the CO2 inside of that plastic. Together with ADM, DuPont has developed a plastic that can do that and can either be used by itself or mixed with PET to improve the barrier properties substantially. On top of this, the plastic is made primarily from a renewable resource, as well \u2014 corn starch or fructose \u2014 and it allows us to substantially reduce the amount of plastic required to package beverages. I\u2019m really energized about this partnership and its impact.<\/p>\n
Another recent development from DuPont Biomaterials is an enzymatic polymerization technology that enables access to a range of engineered polysaccharide materials, which are renewable and inherently biodegradable. How can innovations such as this empower DuPont Biomaterials\u2019 customers?<\/p>\n
MS: Basically, nature has many different polymers of sugar \u2014 that\u2019s basically what polysaccharides are \u2014 and they\u2019re used commercially. Cellulose is used in paper; cellulose acetate goes into eyeglasses; and then there\u2019s other things like guar gum, that\u2019s used in food and oil well production. Nature makes them in a plant, then humans harvest the plant, chop it up and use chemicals to dissolve the rest of it and what\u2019s left is the pure cellulose. That\u2019s the way we work with polysaccharides today.<\/p>\n
What DuPont has developed mimics what nature does. When nature makes cellulose in a tree, [it] takes in CO2 from the air and sunlight and uses these enzymes \u2014 natural catalysts \u2014 inside the tree to create sugar and then polymerize that sugar together into long chains, which are cellulose. What we\u2019ve done is develop enzymes of our own.<\/p>\n
We can start with regular cane or beet sugar \u2014 like you would put in your coffee \u2014 and by mixing it together with this enzyme, we can break the bonds inside that sugar and string together the molecules to form exactly the polymer that we want. The process is done at room temperature and room pressure [and] is done with water and sugar and a little bit of an enzyme; we can design fantastic new polymers directly from sugar in a very environmentally friendly way. Of course, because they\u2019re made from sugar, they are biodegradable.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s interesting about polysaccharides is that they can have a whole range of properties. Cellulose will sit around for 100 years in a tree; it\u2019s very durable. Or corn starch \u2014 another polymer of sugar \u2014 they\u2019re both made from the same units but because they have a slightly different structure, corn starch dissolves in water and cellulose is extremely durable. Using enzymes to polymerize sugar, we can make a whole variety of different materials with fantastic properties, so it\u2019s a great new process and we\u2019re very excited about it.<\/p>\n
You mentioned a variety of applications \u2014 can you share some examples?<\/p>\n
MS: Sure! Some that we\u2019re looking at include a paper-making operation. More and more people want to use recycled paper pulp, but that pulp is a lower quality than the fresh pulp, [so] the paper is weaker. If we add some of our polysaccharides in a very small amount to the paper-making process, we can enhance the strength of the paper, which allows you to use more recycled pulp and less virgin pulp.<\/p>\n
Another example: If you think about the feeling of an acrylic sweater compared to a cotton sweater, the difference in comfort is really extreme. Cotton is a polysaccharide, so it\u2019s natural; it breathes and it\u2019s very comfortable. Acrylic has a lot of great properties, but because it\u2019s a pure synthetic, it doesn\u2019t have that same breathability. We\u2019re finding that we can add it to some of these synthetic fiber materials and make them feel more natural and give them better properties.<\/p>\n
Speaking of textiles, DuPont is a participant in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation\u2019s \u2018Make Fashion Circular\u2019 initiative \u2014 can you tell us more about DuPont Biomaterials\u2019 role in the initiative?<\/p>\n
MS: We\u2019re really thrilled to be part of what the Ellen MacArthur Foundation is doing. We\u2019re also working in the Circular Economy 100 (CE100), which is sort of a precompetitive innovation program. We\u2019re involved with both of those because we think in order to really make change in industry, we have to have collaboration all the way from the beginning, through material suppliers to all of the people who work throughout the value chain.<\/p>\n
In the fashion industry, for example, we start with corn and make a monomer, we make a polymer, our customers turn that into a fiber, it\u2019s woven into a fabric that\u2019s made into a garment, and then someone has to dispose of that garment eventually in some way or another. It\u2019s a very long value chain. We\u2019ve all got to work together if we\u2019re going to make an impact on the fashion industry. So, that\u2019s what we\u2019re really eager about with Make Fashion Circular; it\u2019s a whole bunch of different industry partners. There are brands that everybody knows \u2014 like adidas, Burberry, Nike \u2014 but there\u2019s also material suppliers like us and Gore; there\u2019s people that are really interested in trying to make new raw materials. And we\u2019re working to bring the whole value chain together to make holistic solutions.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just getting started, but they had the first workshop recently in London. We\u2019re looking at how companies can support key issues. One of them is business models that keep clothes in use, looking at longevity and durability in the world of fast fashion. Another is materials that are both renewable and safe; that\u2019s a big area for us. How can we teach the industry to use more of these materials so that the renewable part really helps with these materials?<\/p>\n
We believe that where the materials come from, how they\u2019re used and how they\u2019re disposed of \u2014 all three of them matter. A lot of the time when people hear \u2018circular economy,\u2019 all they\u2019re thinking of is the last piece. But really, if you take a material that is very extractive from the earth and has a terrible process to make it, and then it\u2019s biodegradable, that\u2019s not really solving the problem. You have to look at all three parts.<\/p>\n
The final area they\u2019re looking at is turning used clothes into new clothes. They may need some chemical process or materials initiative that we at DuPont can contribute to, and I think that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to come up with great solutions. We\u2019ll bring a different perspective than a garment maker or retailer will.<\/p>\n
Is there anything else that you\u2019d like to share with SB readers?<\/p>\n
MS: It\u2019s been so long that people have been waiting for the promises of biomaterials that there\u2019s a perception that these products might not actually work or may not be cost competitive. It\u2019s important for people to know that they are working. I\u2019ve been working with Sorona for 12 years. The product grew 30 percent last year. It\u2019s being well-accepted by the market because it works and it\u2019s cost competitive and has a great sustainability story. I\u2019ve been asked this for the past dozen years, and I\u2019m as or more excited now than I have been in the whole time I\u2019ve been working here.<\/p>\n
I think biomaterials have had some false starts and some small companies that have over-hyped what they were doing and then failed, but we are on the way to really having an impact. DuPont remains super-driven in this area; we\u2019re investing in it and we really see it as an important focus for the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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