Sustainable Starch-Based Solutions for Construction Additives
Construction materials are central to the stability, efficiency, and resilience of modern infrastructure. Yet their performance often hinges on the precise composition of complex formulations. The Emsland Group, based in Emlichheim, Germany, brings decades of experience in developing starch-based additives to support these formulations in plasters, adhesives and mortars — combining renewable raw materials with state-of-the-art processing and application expertise.
Understanding Customer Needs
The Emsland Group works closely with construction professionals to define the exact performance targets required in diverse applications—from dry mortars and gypsum plasters to tile adhesives. Recognizing that construction environments vary widely, the company places significant emphasis on adaptability.
The Emsland group’s current starch ether product line, Emset®, is specifically tailored to enhance characteristics such as workability, consistency, water retention and rheology in cement, gypsum, and adhesive systems, as well as improve open time and anti-slip properties in tile adhesives. However, customer challenges are not approached with a one-size-fits-all mindset. Instead, application experts build products based on direct feedback and collaborative testing, often incorporating customer-submitted “black box” samples to refine performance and ensure real-world effectiveness.
From Lab to Production: Tailored Innovation
The backbone of the Emsland Group’s innovation is its dedicated Innovation Center in Emlichheim, Germany. Thanks to a small-scale autoclave and roller dryers in the development lab, application experts can test recipes and innovations as part of the direct feedback loop with customers during trials. Once the required qualities of product are achieved, a seamless transfer to large-scale production follows at the company’s production facility for modified starch. Commissioned in 2022, the facility contains roller dryers and autoclaves specifically configured for specialty applications. This approach enables the company to not just meet the desired product characteristics under lab conditions, but achieve seamless integration into the customer’s own production line.
Practical Solutions for Real-World Applications
Application expertise at the Emsland Group is grounded in practical, real-world challenges. Rather than focusing solely on chemical composition, the company investigates how additives behave in actual construction environments—whether applied by hand or machine, under varying temperature and moisture conditions, or in combination with other formulation components.
Solutions are not developed in isolation—they are part of an ongoing, collaborative process with customers, designed to ensure that each formulation functions effectively. Application experts test the products’ final performance by using equipment such as ultrasonic devices, tensile strength machinery, spreading tables and viscosimeters to determine exact values relating to characteristics such as viscosity, dimensions, water retention, hardening, open time, consistency, strength and slip of the products. In this way, the product is sure to perform as desired under the customer’s specific construction environment.
Conclusion
As construction materials evolve, so too must the components that define their function. Emsland Group approaches this challenge not as a supplier, but as a knowledge partner—ready to co-develop and refine starch-based solutions that perform at scale.
By leveraging deep expertise, advanced facilities, and a spirit of collaboration, Emsland Group continues to support the next generation of construction chemistry—responsively, precisely, and sustainably.
Discover more about construction additives at the Emsland Group.
