Green Chemistry and Technology

Biography

Biography: Dr. Pieter Imhof

Abstract

Plastics bring a lot of of positives to the society due to the properties they could bring, like low weight, chemical resistance, transparency, strength, barrier properties, etc. And consequntly they can be used in wide range of products and applications. The downside of using plastic is the impact it currently has on environment, due to use of fossil resources for its production, CO2 impact during production, but also due to end-of-life and people behavioral effects, like waste in environment, landfill or incineration. Various technology solutions are being sought to minimize these negative effects, while maintaining the positive aspects. Examples are bio-based building blocks and polymers, mechanical and chemical recycling.BioBTX has developed technologies that enable the conversion of both biomass and end-of-life materials into platform chemicals, i.c. aromatics, especially BTX (Benzene, Toluene, Xylenes). These are the basis of 40% of all polymers produced worldwide.Applying this technology allows achievement of circularity and sustainability targets, like CO₂ reduction, minimization of use of fossil resources, lower waste by making chemical building blocks from current waste streams form agriculture, plastics, composiites, etc.In the presentation examples will be given on the flexibility of the technology and its impacton products, performance and environment.