The North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) project group is made up of industrial companies in the UK plus researchers from Surrey, Teesside and Newcastle Universities. The aim of the 30 month project is to identify new commercial opportunities for full-scale chemicals manufacturing from a range of alternative sustainable biomass resources, such as feedstocks. 

Scott Bader’s R&D team has been working for over two years on a number of projects to develop alternative composites resins from renewable resources and sees the NEPIC project as an ideal way to collaborate with other organisations on discovering sustainable, environmentally friendly alternatives for chemical products.

“Over the next 30 months the R & D team will work closely with members of the Group to share ideas and expertise," says Roy Phillips, Technical Director for Scott Bader. "This is a significant commitment of our R&D resources, which Scott Bader believes it must do in order to find viable renewable options within the chemical industry for the future.”

The project, named ABC (Assessing Biomass to Chemicals), is being partly sponsored by the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The intended project outcome will be to produce estimated capital and operating costs for the best and most technically feasible processing options.