The Nexus in Palsgaard’s DNA

Claus Hviid Christensen, CEO of Nexus, outlines the role and purpose of his team as Palsgaard’s independent R&D backbone.

When it comes to research, development and innovation in the field of plant-based emulsifiers, surfactants, stabilisers and their derivatives, Nexus is a unique source for product solutions that drive and strengthen the leading role of Palsgaard in the natural additives business and beyond.

"There is a lot of hype around ‘bio-based’, ‘circular’ and ‘renewable’ developments, but many of them still need to prove their feasibility on a large industrial scale. One major exception is our plant-based additives technology, which has taken off from classical food emulsifiers and is rapidly transforming other markets, in particular plastics."

– Claus Hviid Christensen, CEO, Nexus A/S

Independent R&D

As an independent research and sister company in the organisation of the Schou Foundation, the key mission of Nexus is to help Palsgaard grow. Essentially, our R&D extends across functional ingredients for a wide range of industries, from food and personal care to polymers, paints, and even fuels. In all of those market segments, consumers, brand owners, designers and manufacturers are pushing hard for more sustainable and healthier solutions to reduce their carbon footprint – a great opportunity for advanced renewable, fossil-free products such as plant-based additives.

Leaving the Fossil World Behind

The crucial question is where to get the carbon from as we seek to reduce fossil depletion, and what would the world look like without fossil resources? There is a lot of hype around ‘bio-based’, ‘circular’ and ‘renewable’ developments, but many of them still need to prove their feasibility on a large industrial scale. One major exception is our plant-based additives technology, which has taken off from classical food emulsifiers and is rapidly transforming other markets, in particular plastics.

While Nexus was created in 1949 to support the ongoing innovation at Palsgaard, we also take pride in our ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking to capture longer-term market opportunities, on which we spend at least 25 percent of our work and time. However, the longer term can often melt down to a rather short period. Only seven years ago, for instance, we discovered that a special emulsifier which had originally been developed for chocolate can also have an instrumental effect in improving colour dyes for plastics. The result was a completely new range of Einar® dispersing aids for pigments in polymer masterbatches.

A similar story of success where an edible food ingredient has jumped to plastics is the applied technology behind the Einar® portfolio of anti-fog and anti-static surfactants, whose chemistry is basically characterised by the same long amphiphilic molecules more typically associated with emulsifiers. As ‘dual use’ food-grade products, these plant-based additives are fully EU and FDA-approved for food-contact polymer applications.

Pushing the Boundaries

Further research at Nexus reaches far into other non-fossil resources and chemistries, including algae and natural nanoparticles. As we explore the future potential of these, our vision also extends beyond ingredients or additives. We could even imagine Palsgaard playing a major role in supplying some of the main building blocks for 100 percent renewable polymer formulations.

The people pushing the boundaries at our Nexus R&D laboratory at Juelsminde, Denmark, are a highly motivated and inspired team of 45 qualified chemists, research engineers and laboratory technicians who synergize in two groups: One analyses fundamental molecular behaviours of natural resources, investigates reaction mechanisms, characterises final plant-based products and assists Palsgaard in controlling consistent product quality; the other is mainly responsible for inventing new products, improving others and optimising production processes.

Partnering for Success

However, the transformation of fossil to renewable industries is not a challenge that can be mastered by single players in the field. As manufacturers and consumers are increasingly demanding more natural and sustainable product solutions, most of our plant-based innovations do not come as immediate drop-in alternatives. Instead, they often need sophisticated tweaking to really obtain the desired functionality and performance, which requires cross-functional collaboration with others in industry and academia.

In fundamental studies such as the migration of additives or for infrared spectrography of surfactants, for instance, Nexus has an ongoing close research partnership with several Danish universities. This also helps us recruit new talents and keep providing Palsgaard with cutting-edge product technology to succeed in the long term.