Kemira and PA Consulting collaborate to develop new renewable barrier coatings for sustainable food packaging
Kemira and PA Consulting have formed a strategic collaboration aimed at accelerating the development of a new renewable coating technology, supporting transformation into more sustainable food packaging. This builds upon the recent announcement of a new contract manufacturing facility by Kemira and IFF under their exclusive partnership, which will be able to supply entry-level industrial scale volumes for Kemira’s strategic markets.
The collaboration with PA focuses on bringing an innovative polysaccharide-based renewable barrier coating material to market by leveraging its inherently strong sustainability profile, including recyclability and compostability, combined with excellent barrier properties for sustainable flexible food packaging applications. The new technology is based on IFF’s Designed Enzymatic Biomaterial™ (“DEB”) production platform, a cutting-edge biotechnology process that enables the production of new renewable polymers with enzymatic polymerization.
Consumers and regulators are demanding a step change in sustainable packaging and the reduction of plastic waste. With the help of chemistry, fiber-based flexible packaging can offer renewable and recyclable packaging solutions in demanding end-use applications. This innovative new coating material will offer a major step forward in pursuit of this goal and will have the flexibility to adapt to existing value chain infrastructure.
“We are excited to partner with PA Consulting to further leverage the potential of this new, renewable polymer technology. Collaborating on this strategic initiative underscores our shared vision to lead the industry towards a more environmentally conscious and sustainable future.” said Sampo Lahtinen,Senior Vice President Growth Accelerator, Kemira Oyj
David Russell, technology and innovation expert at PA Consulting, said: “We are thrilled to collaborate with Kemira to help unlock this new business growth area. PA brings expert capabilities in commercialising material science technology and market strategy, and we look forward to working with Kemira on the development of innovative barrier coating technology for sustainable packaging.”