Biobased Product Markets – Part II

In a previous blog (Biobased Product Markets – Part I; May 29, 2018 – read below), I wrote about the need for city procurement departments to provide data on the carbon dioxide emission reductions that the departments have obtained through the cities’ use of biobased products.

Many, perhaps most, biobased products available for purchase by city procurement departments (and other customers of biobased products) are based upon the research and product development of chemical companies.  Here are some of the biobased products that have been developed by chemical companies:

when used	how used	chemical company	product function
cleaning	various	DowDupont	cleaner solvents
cleaning	various	Eastman	disposable wipe fibers
cleaning	various	Henkel	surfactants
cleaning	various	Kaneka	surfactants
construction	asphalt	ADM	additives
construction	asphalt	Arkema	additives
construction	asphalt	Cargill	additives
construction	asphalt	Kraton	additives
construction	concrete	DowDupont	sealants
construction	fixtures	Ashland	resins
construction	insulation	Convestro	foam
construction	paint	PPG	additives, resins
construction	timber	Convestro	resins/fibers
construction	various	DowDupont	adhesives/sealants
indoor interiors	carpets	Rennovia	nylon
indoor interiors	chairs	BASF/Corbion	polyurethane foam
indoor interiors	chairs	Cargill	polyurethane foam
indoor interiors	chairs	Covestro	polyurethane foam
indoor interiors	chairs	DowDupont	polyurethane foam
indoor interiors	furniture	Covestro	coating
indoor interiors	walls	Ashland	plywood/particle board
landscaping	gardens	Acme-Hardesty	herbicides
landscaping	gardens	Marrone Bio Innovation	herbicides
landscaping	gardens	Mitsui	herbicides
office	packaging	Acme-Hardesty	plastics
office	packaging	Mitsubishi	plastics
vehicles	body	Arkema	plastics
vehicles	body	DowDupont	plastics
vehicles	body	DSM	plastics
vehicles	body	Teijin	plastics
vehicles	coatings	BASF Covestro	hardener
vehicles	interiors	BASF	polyurethane foam
vehicles	tires	DowDupont Goodyear	bio isoprene
work clothes	various	Archroma	various
work clothes	various	Arkema	various
work clothes	various	BASF	polyamides
work clothes	various	DowDupont	various
work clothes	various	Virent	polyester

A 2015 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report (click here to read the report – PDF file) provides details on the biobased products marketplace in the United States, including the Federal Government’s procurement program for buying biobased products.  Although the report indicates that key environmental benefits of the manufacture and use of biobased products are the reduction in fossil fuel use and associated greenhouse gas emissions, amounts of these benefits and reductions are not available.

In Part I of this two-part series (see above for reference to Part I), I indicated the lack of measured results for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions caused by the biobased product use of the biggest US city procurement departments.   It seems to me that this lack is missing a huge opportunity to obtain useful data on how well cities are doing in reducing carbon dioxide emissions (estimates are that the world’s cities cause 70% of carbon dioxide emissions).  As indicated by the 2015 USDA report, referenced above, such data is not available in the literature.   Perhaps if such data was available, the data would lead to more innovation and a significant reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.