JOWAT SE

Their core work

Jowat SE is a major German adhesive manufacturer headquartered in Detmold, producing industrial bonding solutions for woodworking, packaging, graphic arts, automotive and textile industries. In the H2020 context they acted as the industrial end-user in three Bio-Based Industries (BBI) projects, evaluating whether renewable feedstocks — lignocellulosic sugars, isosorbide-based carbonates and vegetable-oil refining by-products — can replace petrochemical inputs in adhesives, surfactants and bio-lubricants. Their contribution is application testing, formulation know-how and market-pull validation rather than upstream chemistry research. For consortium builders they are the "will this actually work in a real glue factory?" partner.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their H2020 trajectory moves steadily downstream along the bio-based value chain: beginning with raw lignocellulosic biomass conversion (US4GREENCHEM, 2015), shifting to defined bio-based monomers such as isosorbide carbonates (VIPRISCAR, 2018), and most recently focusing on refining industrial side-streams — vegetable oil deodorizer distillates (IRODDI, 2020). The recent keyword cluster around ionic liquids, supercritical CO2, tocopherol, squalene, surfactants and bio-lubricants signals a pivot toward higher-value specialty chemistry rather than bulk biomass processing.

Moving from bulk biomass conversion toward higher-value specialty chemistry extracted from industrial side-streams — a good fit for partners working on bio-lubricants, surfactants or bio-based adhesive components.

How they like to work

Jowat is consistently a participant, never a coordinator, and only joins BBI-RIA or RIA consortia where it can plug in at the industrial-application end. Across the three projects they have worked with 25 unique partners across 10 countries, with relatively little partner reuse — they function as a rotating industrial anchor rather than a repeat-collaboration hub. Partnering with Jowat means gaining adhesive-industry credibility and end-market access, but the relationship must be structured around their application-testing role.

25 unique partners across 10 EU countries, built inside three BBI/RIA consortia between 2015 and 2023. The network is centred on continental European bio-economy actors rather than a single national cluster.

What sets them apart

Most H2020 participants in BBI projects are chemistry research groups or start-ups; Jowat is one of the few established large-scale adhesive manufacturers actually willing to test bio-based outputs in formulations destined for real products. That makes them unusually valuable for projects that need credible market pull and industrial benchmarking, not just another lab partner. For a consortium builder looking to move bio-based chemistry from TRL4 toward commercial use in adhesives, sealants or bonding agents, Jowat is a direct shortcut to an end-user.

Highlights from their portfolio

• IRODDI
  Their most recent and most sharply scoped project, focusing specifically on vegetable-oil deodorizer distillates as a route to tocopherol, squalene, surfactants and bio-lubricants.
• VIPRISCAR
  Pilot-scale industrial validation of isosorbide bis(methyl carbonate), positioning Jowat inside the bio-based monomer supply chain.
• US4GREENCHEM
  Their entry point into H2020 bio-economy work, coupling ultrasonic and enzymatic treatment of lignocellulose to generate sugar-platform chemicals.