Member portrait: CJ Europe 

In each issue of the Bioplastics Newsletter, we present some facts about a member of European Bioplastics. This month, Eung Joo Kim, Biochemicals Business Team Leader at CJ Europe, shares some interesting insights on his company.  

5 facts about CJ Europe, Germany  

  1. CJ CheilJedang, starting as sugar manufacturer in 1953, has led the Korean food Industry and has grown into a global food and bio company. CJ CheilJedang’s bio business produces globally leading bio products of amino-acids and nucleotides, accomplished with outstanding microbial fermentation technology, developed over the past 60 years.
  2. Utilizing capability, technology, and know-how on amino acids, CJ is now expanding its bio business into the biochemical sector and will offer sustainable solutions to the plastic industry. Starting from early 2022, bio-based chemicals (pentanediamine, butanediamine) and biodegradable plastics (PHA) will be produced in the newly constructed biochemical complex.
  3. CJ’s pentanediamine, C5 aliphatic diamine, is a unique bio-based building block for various products. Its main application is bio-polyamide like PA56 and PA510. The unique properties of pentanediamine offer both sustainable and functional properties to the textile and EP industries. Additionally, pentanediamine can be converted to isocyanate which is used for polyurethane coating, adhesive, and ink with several advantages like high reactivity.
  4. CJ’s butanediamine, C4 aliphatic diamine, is a bio-based drop-in chemical. Its main application is PA46, and due to the chemical structure of butanediamine, PA46 shows excellent properties as a super engineering plastic.
  5. CJ’s PHA (P3HB-4HB) is a bio-based and soil- as well as marine-biodegradable polyester generated from microorganisms. Generally, PHA is composed of P3HB and diverse co-polymers, depending on concentration of co-polymer, and crystallinity is adjustable. CJ’s PHA (amorphous type) has high contents of co-polymer, P4HB that makes it has a unique property like rubber for being able to improve impact strength.