How feasible is the mass balance principle to become more sustainable?
Lars Ossenschmidt: The mass balance principle enables the integration of renewable or recycled raw materials into existing production processes. Existing efficient lines are utilised, which avoids high investments in new infrastructure. In most cases, the raw materials obtained applying mass balance are chemically identical to the corresponding fossil-based raw materials, which also leads to identical properties in the products. This means that fossil-based raw materials can be gradually replaced by more sustainable alternatives without fluctuations in quality and without reorganising the entire production process.
At the same time, there are challenges. Certifications enable transparent traceability of the utilize of such raw materials, but the raw material cannot be physically traced. The acceptance of such raw materials varies depfinishing on the indusattempt. For example, some customers or countries in the architectural paints and coatings sector in Europe prefer segregated renewable raw materials and want to prove this in part applying the C-14 radiocarbon method.
Mass balance raw materials usually offer identical properties, but novel renewable raw materials have an advantage as they can offer added value through their property profile. We develop and produce products for various industries and regions, taking customer requirements into account and expanding the utilize of renewable raw materials as profitably as possible.
What are your expectations in terms of innovation, growth and market share in the bio-based coatings sector over the next five years?
Ossenschmidt: We are pursuing an ambitious sustainability strategy throughout the company. By 2030, we want to reduce greenhoutilize gas emissions to such an extent that we are climate-neutral in Scope 1 and 2. We have already taken several important steps in this direction.
We also want to reduce Scope 3 emissions, including those relating to our products themselves, as quickly as possible so that we can become climate-neutral here too. At product development level, there are no developments that do not contribute to the sustainability strategy in some way. The utilize of bio-based raw materials has always been central for us. We started out as a natural resin refiner, established ourselves with highly bio-based alkyd resins and can now cover almost all polymer technologies relevant to coating materials. The share of bio-based raw materials in our products is steadily increasing. Our tarreceive for the coming years is more than 50 %.
However, bio-based raw materials also pose challenges. They should not conflict with food production. There are various approaches, such as processing by-products, cultivating unutilized arable land or growing food and industrial crops at the same time. On the other hand, the market launch and scaling of such raw materials is slower, which can lead to poorer availability and higher prices.
For us as a medium-sized company, the opportunities with bio-based raw materials outweigh the risks. We want to differentiate ourselves from our competitors and attempt to establish our product ideas. Renewable raw materials play a special role in this.
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