Borregaard has one of the world’s most advanced and sustainable biorefineries. By using natural, sustainable raw materials, Borregaard produces advanced and environmentally friendly biochemicals that can replace oil-based products. Borregaard also holds strong positions within ingredients and fine chemicals.
In addition to its biorefinery in Sarpsborg, Borregaard has five production sites outside Norway dedicated to
producing lignin-based products. Borregaard employs 1100 man-years in plants and sales offices in 13 countries throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas.
LIGNIN BIOPOLYMERS
Borregaard’s lignin-based biopolymers are renewable, wood-based alternatives to fossil-based chemicals and polymers used in a broad range of industries. Our products are tailor-made to obtain the optimal performance in your application.
With over 90 years experience in lignin-based biopolymers, we are continuously developing our unique product offering. Our environmentally friendly products are used as binders, dispersing agents, crystal growth modifiers, emulsion stabilisers and complexing agents. These multi-functional properties are valuable in a vast range of applications. A global network of production facilities, sales offices and technical service centres assures the best local service and competence, where and when you need it.
Borregaard is known in over a 100 countries, primarily through its direct sales. Market driven innovation efforts are performed by our R&D centres in Norway, the USA and India, and through our global technical service teams. Our roots stem from the pioneering lignin chemicals businesses in the US and Sweden over 90 years ago, from which we have built unique competence in producing customised solutions together with our customers.
Our raw material is wood, a 2nd generation feedstock, thereby not competing with food production. Documentation of the sustainability of our products and processes is spearheaded by a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approach providing Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).
WHAT IS A LIGNIN BIOPOLYMER?
Lignin is the binding agent in wood and the world’s second most abundant biopolymer after cellulose. Lignin is the raw material for Borregaard’s biopolymers.
Biopolymers
Biopolymers are naturally occurring polymers produced by living organisms. Biopolymers consist of monomeric units that are bonded to form larger molecules. Well known examples are polynucleotides as in our DNA and polymers of amino acids forming proteins. Polysaccharides are linear or branched biopolymers from sugar, including starch, cellulose and alginate. Lignin is one of the main biopolymers in wood, built from aromatic units. All these biopolymers contribute to essential processes and structures to maintain life on earth. Biopolymers have been found to have valuable properties that can be utilised in industrial processes and for various applications including food, construction, chemicals and packaging.
With growing concern about the negative impacts of environmental pollution from fossil fuels and waste from petrochemical products, much research has gone into exploring renewable alternatives that would pose less risk to the environment. Biopolymers are one such possible solution to the challenge as they possess many of the inherent functionalities needed and they can be obtained from renewable raw materials.
Lignin
Wood is composed mainly of three macromolecular species: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Cellulose and hemicellulose are polysaccharides, whilst lignin is built from aromatic units. Lignin performs multiple functions that are essential to the life of a plant and is the second most abundant biopolymer after cellulose. Lignin is the raw material for Borregaard’s biopolymers. The main function of lignin in plant life is binding the fibers together, imparting structural rigidity and creating a composite material that is outstandingly resistant to impact, compression and bending. By extracting lignin from wood, a range of lignin-based biopolymers can be obtained including water soluble lignin such as lignosulfonates.
In contrast to native lignin, lignosulfonates are water-soluble due to fragmentation and the introduction of sulfonate groups. Native properties of lignin in combination with customised modification, have resulted in production of a wide portfolio of sustainable biopolymers which are used in dispersing, binding, crystal growth control, complexing, emulsion-stabilising for many applications.
BIOPOLYMER FUNCTIONALITIES
Borregaard’s lignin-based biopolymers are renewable wood-based alternatives to fossil-based chemicals and polymers used in a broad range of industries.
Our products are custom-made to deliver optimal performance in your application. Our sustainable lignin-based biopolymers offer a broad range of functionalities, including:
Antioxidation
Corrosion inhibition
Emulsion stabilisation
Binding
Crystal growth control
Phenolic building block
Complexing
Dispersing
UV-protection
BIOVANILLIN
Borregaard is the only producer of vanillin from wood: sustainable vanillin, made from natural, renewable raw material.
Building on six decades of experience we have developed a wide range of specially adapted varieties of vanillin for different applications. These include food and beverage, flavour and fragrance, personal care and cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Our portfolio includes:
Plant-based vanillin, vanillin and ethyl vanillin
Vanillin powder flavours
Tailor-made vanillin creations for specific food applications
Borregaard has produced plant-based vanillin from Norway spruce since 1962, sourced from sustainably managed forests. Our plant-based vanillin is the only vanillin on the market certified according to PEFC, based on 100% renewable carbon. It provides a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to guaiacol vanillin synthesised from crude oil.
Request a free sample of EuroVanillin®
Click here to find all necessary documentation for our EuroVanillin® products
CELLULOSE FIBRILS
Borregaard’s Exilva® MFC enhances structure in your product formulations, increasing your formulation efficiency and reducing your CO2 footprint.
Exilva is a new type of bio-based additive, sourced from Norway Spruce in Scandinavian forests. The new-to-the-market technology is showing some clear advantages, helping you out when formulating.
It is an insoluble microfibrillated cellulose, which consists of an entanglement of the cellulose fibers which has the ability to interact both physically through its extreme surface area and chemically through hydrogen bonding. Its novel nature gives it rheological and mechanical functionalities, which as an additive, imparts a unique combination of properties in finished product systems.
As a result of the fibrillation process, many hydroxyl groups become accessible to matrix in a network, resulting in a very high water retention capability. MFC will also retain its crystallinity features after the production process, providing a robust product.
WHAT IS EXILVA?
Exilva is a new type of bio-based additive, sourced from Norway Spruce in Scandinavian forests. The new-to-the-market technology is showing some clear advantages, helping you out when formulating.
The many benefits Exilva can deliver include improved performance in anti-settling and anti-sedimentation through improved yield stress, versatility and flexibility in formulations through robustness to shear, pH and temperature, as well as improving the sustainability profile.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Exilva is an insoluble Microfibrillated cellulose, which consists of an entanglement of the cellulose fibers which has the ability to interact both physically through its extreme surface area and chemically through hydrogen bonding. Its novel nature gives it rheological and mechanical functionalities, which as an additive, imparts a unique combination of properties in finished product systems.
As a result of the fibrillation process, many hydroxyl groups become accessible to matrix in a network, resulting in a very high water retention capability. MFC will also retain its crystallinity features after the production process, providing a robust product.
The field of Microfibrillated cellulose has been known since the early 1980’s and has been reported several times in literature. Research on MFC has previously been confined to small laboratories and pilot plants, due to constraints in technology and production feasibility. Through its proprietary technology, Exilva, Borregaard is now able to provide high quality Microfibrillated cellulose, from its production plant in Sarpsborg, Norway.
BENEFITS FROM TAILORED FUNCTIONALITIES
Exilva is Borregaard’s innovative new product within the field of Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), which not only offers rheology modification, but also a long list of other advantages in a material that demonstrates high efficacy and robustness in harsh environments.
Through Borregaard’s proprietary fibrillation process, cellulose fibres are converted into a 3D network of microfibrils, with an ultra-high surface area and water retention capability, that will retain their crystallinity features even after the production process.
In addition to superior rheology performance, Exilva also improves product stability (anti-settling) and versatility, alongside controlling dry-out time, improving barriers and enhancing uptake of active ingredients. Its pseudoplastic (non-newtonian) performance makes Exilva ideally suited to products where strict demands are made to spray quality and Exilva is particularly suited when low viscosity at high shear and/or rapid recovery of viscosity is required.
EXILVA’S MULTIFUNCTIONAL ADVANTAGES
Extremely shear thinning (Pseudoplastic, non-newtonian)
High viscosity at low shear
Thixotropic characteristics
Very high water retention capacity
Barrier properties
Enhancing uptake of active ingredients
Ensuring stability
POTENTIAL MARKETS AND APPLICATIONS FOR EXILVA
Due to its high efficiency, robustness in harsh environments and its multifunctional characteristics, Exilva is suitable for a wide range of products and industries.
Remember, this list only includes a few examples – contact us to discuss potentials in your market.
AGRICULTURE
Borregaard offers environmentally friendly ingredients and co-formulants for crop protection, plant nutrition, seed coating and biocontrol.
BATTERIES
Borregaard produces effective battery life extending additives as well as products that increase the safety and performance of Li ion batteries.
CONSTRUCTION
Borregaard is a leading supplier of sustainable biopolymers to the global construction industry. We offer wood-based, high-performance additives for concrete, gypsum board and mortar.
CLEANERS
Our products can help you solve typical challenges in formulating liquid home care products and in professional cleaning detergents and replace current synthetic additives.
PAINTS & COATINGS
Borregaard’s products can help customers to solve typical challenges related to the waterborne coatings as well as replace the current synthetic additives in formulations.
PAPER & PACKAGING
Your solution and technology provider: Borregaard is one of the world’s leading suppliers of high performance, sustainable products for paper & packaging.
PERSONAL CARE & COSMETICS
Our products help you solve challenges related to personal care liquid formulations, dispersions and emulsions.
RESINS & ADHESIVES
Borregaard produces biopolymers and cellulose fibrils that are well suited for formulating your adhesive and resin products. Our products can also be used to enhance the performance of your existing formulations.
HQ : Norway
Inquire about products from Borregaard