The plant is the result of ten years of process development, pilot plant evaluation and construction, in which chemical company ChemCom (Delfzijl) and engineering firm KTV Technology worked together to add value to the residual product glycerol.
“We offer an alternative to petrochemical-based solvents,” explains Martin Thielicke, Business Manager at Alteqo. “Our solvents Glycamal and Glycasol are 87 and 68 percent biobased.” These solvents have a wide range of applications, in detergents and coatings or as solvents for injectable drugs or agrochemicals, or for improving skin formulations. The market potential is enormous. Thielicke: “Just one of the petrochemicals we want to replace, butylglycol, already accounts for 160,000 tonnes per year in Europe.”
The production plant at Chemical Park Delfzijl currently employs some thirty people. Over the next five years, Alteqo expects to expand the production capacity in Delfzijl with a second plant. “It is our ambition to be the global market leader in the field of sustainable solvents.”
Image: BGStock72/Shutterstock
