Simon Hinkley, Science Team Leader of Victoria University of Wellington, Lower Hutt, New Zealand. A research programme with Resene Paints led Dr Simon Hinkley into the world of industrial polymer formulation and spawned a desire to help other New Zealand companies create greener, higher value products.Formulated polymers are ubiquitous in industrial products such as sheep drench, lipstick, adhesives and paint, but most are made from petrochemicals.“Our goal is the systematic replacement of these molecules with substances generated from renewable sources. They will have a lower environmental impact overall as well as benefits such as better biodegradability or other functionality.”
“There are many fantastic polymers and formulations on the market, which are extremely cheap and have excellent properties. We’re responding to a demand from industry for novel and renewable ingredients made from plants or other low environmental-cost sources that fully or partially replace these materials. It’s a massive challenge.”Simon and the team have recently invented two new cellulose-based renewable polymers based on a levulinc acid repeating unit. Although the polymers are still too expensive to act as acrylic replacements on a large scale, they are proving to be of interest in higher value applications.
