Produced from renewable materials, VIRIDISOL are solvents that reduce the carbon footprint for chemical processes as well as formulations.
Memphis (TN), January 24, 2020 – VIRIDISOL, produced by PENNAKEM – has earned the Certified Biobased Product label granted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). VIRIDISOL is now able to display a unique USDA label that highlights its 100% percentage of biobased content.
Our label may now be used on the products within VIRIDISOL®, listed below:
• VIRIDISOL® M
• VIRIDISOL® M-NT
• VIRIDISOL® M-ST
• VIRIDISOL® T
Third-party verification for a product’s biobased content is administered through the USDA BioPreferred Program, an initiative created by the 2002 Farm Bill (and most recently expanded by the 2014 Farm Bill). One of the goals of the BioPreferred Program is to increase the development, purchase, and use of biobased products.
The USDA Certified Biobased Product label displays a product’s biobased content, which is the portion of a product that comes from a renewable source, such as plant, animal, marine, or forestry feedstocks. Utilizing renewable, biobased materials displaces the need for non-renewable petroleum-based chemicals. Biobased products, through petroleum displacement, have played an increasingly important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that exacerbate global climate change.
Biobased products such as VIRIDISOL solvents provide a simple solution to chemical companies to lower their life cycle carbon footprint with efficient and cost-competitive products, readily available and perform as well as or better than their conventional counterparts. “The sustainability of our industry requires us to address solutions for chemical users and formulators,” said James Kasper, VP of Sales & Marketing. “The ‘USDA certified biobased product’ label offers a proof of confidence that our products are compliant with the objectives to reduce the carbon footprint for the benefit of future generations.
“We applaud VIRIDISOL for earning the USDA Certified Biobased Product label,” said Kate Lewis, USDA BioPreferred Program. “Products like VIRIDISOL are contributing to an ever-expanding marketplace that adds value to renewable agriculture commodities, creates jobs in rural communities, and decreases our reliance on petroleum.”
According to a report that USDA released in 2016, biobased products contributed $393 billion to the U.S. economy in 2014 and support, directly and indirectly, 4.2 million jobs. In this report, the research team estimates petroleum displacement of up to 6.8 million barrels in 2014.
The increased production of renewable chemicals and biobased products contributes to the development and expansion of the U.S. bio-economy – where society looks to agriculture for sustainable sources of fuel, energy, chemicals, and products.
About Pennakem:
Pennakem provides full service-manufacturing, pilot facilities, R&D, and worldwide sales and marketing, all focusing on renewable chemistry while developing new and innovative products and processes for customers. ecoXtract is a brand of Pennakem. Pennakem is an affiliate of the Minafin Group
About Minafin
Founded in 2004, Minafin is a privately-held Belgian industrial company specialized in fine chemistry for the life sciences and the high-tech Industries. It generated more than €192M ($215M) in revenues in 2018 and employed 860 staff. Its activities include industrial subcontracting, development of chemical syntheses and industrial scale-up of custom-made processes as well as proprietary products with high added value for the pharmacy, cosmetic, agriculture and high-tech industries. The group has six manufacturing sites: two in the US, two in France, one in Germany and one in Belgium. The activities of the Group includes seven business units: Minasolve, Minakem, Minagro, Pennakem, Pressure Chemicals, Minascent and EcoXtract.
About the USDA BioPreferred Program and Certified Biobased Product label
The BioPreferred Program is a USDA-led initiative that assists the development and expansion of markets for biobased products. The BioPreferred Program is transforming the marketplace for biobased products through two initiatives: mandatory purchasing requirements for Federal Agencies and Federal contractors and voluntary product certification and labeling.
Biobased products span a diverse range of applications, such as lubricants, cleaning products, chemicals, and bioplastics. The USDA Certified Biobased Product label communicates a product’s biobased content. Expressed as a percentage, biobased content is the ratio of non-fossil organic carbon (new organic carbon) to total organic carbon in a product. New organic carbon is derived from recently-created materials. The total organic carbon in a product consists of new organic carbon and old organic carbon that originates from fossil carbon materials, such as petroleum, coal, or natural gas. More than 3,000 products have earned the USDA Certified Biobased Product label. To learn more about the USDA Certified Biobased Product label, please visit www.biopreferred.gov, and follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BioPreferred.
Media and analyst contacts
| Pennakem
Norbert Patouillard Tel: +33.6.89.71.32.30 |
USDA BioPreferred® Program
Vernell Thompson 202.720.4145 |