French specialty chemicals producer Arkema (Colombes; www.arkema.com) has launched its “Kynar” polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) range with grades that claim 100% renewable-attributed carbon derived from crude tall oil bio-feedstock.

Kynar CTO PVDF grades use the mass-balance approach under the ISCC+ certification process. They will be produced firstly in Arkema’s Pierre-Bénite plant in France for European customers, focusing initially on grades specifically targeted for the lithium-ion battery market.

In the second phase, production will be extended to each of Arkema’s global PVDF manufacturing sites and will cover the grades targeted for all traditional PVDF markets and applications. The company also recently announced that it will add 35% more capacity at its Changshu, Jiangsu / China site (see Plasteurope.com of 25.02.2021).

The technology used allows a climate change impact reduction of almost 20% of the Kynar PVDF binder (expressed in kg eq. CO2/kg, according to the ISO14040 standard) while reducing dependence on upstream crude oil consumption. The crude tall oil used in upstream feedstock production is a residue of the kraft process of wood pulp manufacture.