5. Biosourced compounds: a solution in the making?

The last decade has seen a boom in biosourced polymers obtained from renewable resources (corn, wheat, sugarcane...), offering a credible alternative to petroleum-based polymers. To qualify as "green" materials, the flame-retardant additives used in their formulation must also be biosourced. At present, there are few or no fully agro-sourced commercial solutions for treating plastics against fire. Two examples of commercially available "green" flame retardants are Apyrum (an intumescent system based on natural carboxylate salts) and Paxymer®, adapted to polyolefins. The development of biosourced flame retardants is therefore a field of investigation that is still largely undeveloped, but which is currently taking off. Among the main strategies currently being studied, the use of bio-macromolecules may represent an effective means of conferring flame-retardant characteristics. Research is...