Relement is very happy that Dave Dijkhuis joined our Relement team. He brings over 25 years of technical sales experience to our company. Get to know him through this interview. What is your role at Relement? My role as business development & sales manager er is to commercialize our launching product bio MPA, working closely with customers and end-users across Europe. Our primary market will be coatings, so I will focus primarily on this market. What is your background? I have gained more than 25 years experience in technical commercial leadership roles in specialty materials serving multiple industries. This includes roles with Momentive in silicone coatings, additives, elastomers, with EP Minerals in specialty minerals for filtration, coatings and plastics, and with Miwon Europe in specialty a crylates for UV-cure coatings. In my last role with Anton Paar, I worked closely with customers in R&D and QC laboratories at industrial customers and universities, working on the forefront of technology. In addition, I support Siloxene, a start-up out of the Swiss EMPA institute to commercialize its functional silane dendrimers. I find it inspiring and fun to work on new technologies with an entrepreneurial team such as Relement. What do you do in your freetime? I volunteer as country manager India with not-for-profit organization PUM. We help local SMEs especially youth and female entrepreneurs with our team of experts to improve their business and achieve positive economic, social and environmental impact. During the weekend you can find me volunteering or running with the weekly Parkrun event in Rotterdam or on the water in the rowing boat on the Rotte river.

Fieldtest for ACE application accomplished Baril Coatings, Worlée-Chemie and Relement joined forces again and successfully demonstrated a cutting-edge bio MPA based waterborne alkyd industrial coating for ACE application. In collaboration with Shipcoat B.V. and Brassto BV. several metal pipes were coated which soon will be in use in Rotterdam (NL) at a marketplace... At the heart of this nove lperformacne waterborne alkyd coating is Relement’s launching product bio MPA (3-methylphthalic anhydride). Its slightly different molecular structure compared to fossil-based alternatives delivers improved performance without compromise. Incorporated into Worlée Chemie’s resin, it allowed Baril Coatings to create a waterborne alkyd coating that dramatically reduces hazardous substances, uses almost no solvents, and emits very low VOCs. IThis fieldtest shows important proof of applicability of bio MPA in performacne coatings suitable for ACE applications. It is an important step towards commercial introduction.

Relement secures seed investment to scale Bio MPA for the coatings market

At the European Coatings Show in Nuremberg, Relement’s launching product Bio MPA (3 methylphthalic anhydride) took centre stage at the Worlée Chemie and HOBUM Oleochemicals booths. Attendees were captivated by innovative products with this novel bio-based performance ingredient integrated into new resin solutions designed to revolutionize coatings and composites. At the Worlée booth one could see the new Concept Paint from Royal Van Wijhe Verf called BIOmotion70 as well as new innovative waterborne industrial alkydcoating for metal protection formulated by Baril Coatings. Hobum displayed a biobased composite door panel. CEO Roger Blokland and CCO Monique Wekking represented Relement at the 2025 event, which drew >25,000 industry professionals. Witnessing Bio MPA showcased in both alkyd resins and composite materials firsthand was truly inspiring. Further discussions and meetings at ECS centred on bio MPA integration into alkyd coating resins and broader resin systems, emphasizing its potential to enhance performance while reducing reliance on petrochemical precursors and as a result reducing CO2-footprint significantly. Food for Thought: Building Future Alliances At ECS, we engaged in forward-thinking exchanges across the value chain—from bio-based raw material sourcing to resin formulation and further commercial scale-up. There is a mutual interest in driving sustainability through innovation, deeper partnerships, and novel product development. Notably, Worlée Chemie and Relement recently formalized an offtake agreement securing volumes of bio MPA from Relement’s first industrial production launch in 2026.

Dutch paint company Royal Van Wijhe Verf has been collaborating with Worlée Chemie and Relement over the last year to develop Concept Paint BIOmotion70. With our novel biobased ingredient bio MPA (3-methylphthalic anhydride) in a new Worlée alkyd resin, Dutch company Royal Van Wijhe Verf was enabled to develop BIOmotion70; a high-gloss exterior paint with 70% biobased content. It matches traditional alkyds in finish and durability while reducing fossil solvents by 85% to just 4%. Validation BIOmotion70 with professional painters BIOmotion70 has undergone successful field trial validation with professional painters from Dutch property maintenance companies SW Vastgoedverbetering and Koestr. Our CEO Roger Blokland and our CCO Monique Wekking were present at Royal Van Wijhe Verf to witness this validation field test. Though BIOmotion70 is still in its “Concept Paint” phase, the painters responded enthusiastically—remarking, “You’re on the right track”—echoing above-average approval in terms of processing and result. It is important to Royal Van Wijhe Verf to include professional painters in the process early on and to listen to what they need to remain successful and distinctive. Valuable feedback was received so that Royal Van Wijhe Verf can further optimize the paint. Overall, the painters were very satisfied with the application and initial results. They did not expect such a sustainable synthetic paint to achieve such high performance.” A Collaborative Effort We believe genuine sustainability requires a value chain partnership approach: from raw material suppliers to applicators. Innovation is only successful when customers are open to it and accept new products. They way we collaborate with Worlée and Royal Van Wijhe Verf and their customers exemplifies this model. It’s not enough for a product to be sustainable—it must also perform better and be accepted by its users. Including professional painters by Royal Van Wijhe Verf in the testing process, has not only built confidence, but provided insights that will be used to fine-tune performance. Relement, Worlée and Royal Van Wijhe Verf will continue joint efforts to launch the new Concept Paint BIOmotion70 on the market. For more information please contact our CCO Monique Wekking: monique.wekking@relement.eu

Relement is very happy that Amyke Veurink joined our team since June 1st. She brings over 25 years of technical coating application experience to our team. Get to know her through this interview. How has your career developed so far? I have worked for large and smaller companies, binder manufacturers and paint producers, like Akzo Nobel, DSM (now Covestro), Holland Colours and Van Wijhe Verf. I started as a researcher into coating properties and how to influence them by the adjustments of coating formulations. Also, I determined the properties of coating binders to steer the development in the right direction. Later I increased my interest in more fundamental studies and was project leader and team leader. At Relement I can work exactly in my field of knowledge, but on a new subject, a new green ingredient for binders. I like this a lot, and I am very lucky to have found such a professional and nice team of colleagues. What is your role at Relement? I am a Senior Technical Sales Support Manager. Relement is on a mission to change the world of aromatic chemicals and is a frontrunner in renewable chemistry by creating aromatics from non-food biobased raw materials. These biobased aromatics are the missing renewable element for many products such as coatings, adhesives, and other materials. My focus is to investigate and understand the technical aspects of resin production with our launching product bio MPA (3-methylphthalic anhydride) and to increase the knowledge about the technical advantages of using bio MPA in end applications of our customers. What do you want to achieve at Relement? We see significant improvements with bio MPA compared to the fossil equivalent PA in various applications and I want to know the underlying reason. For this I will partner in projects with Applied Universities and Research Institutes. With this information, I will develop bio MPA user guides for our customers to help them understand how to process and use our product bio MPA. At the moment my focus is on Relement's launching market alkyd coatings.

The Relement team celebrated its first lustrum. Our CEO Roger Blokland took a moment to reflect on the past five years. 5 years of Relement: what was the 'aha' moment that led to its birth? Sustainable materials offer huge potential, but customers buy value, not just sustainability. The moment I realized our biobased products could improve performance in hard-to-recycle materials, the opportunity became clear: combining sustainability and performance. How has your vision for Relement evolved? My vision remains the same: building the sustainable specialty chemicals company of the future, based on furfural. What changed is the focus—from being a green alternative to emphasizing the unique performance of our products. But our customers’ challenge is still the same: make very hard-to-recycle materials like coatings more sustainable. What strategic pivot made the biggest impact? Shifting to contract manufacturing. Letting go of our own facility significantly lowered capital needs, aligned better with venture funding, and made entry easier—especially once we proved our product works in batch-wise processing - which is typical for contract manufacturing. What was the most unexpected lesson in year one? CEOs spend 95% of their time fundraising. The other 100% is for running the company. 😊 And the most unexpected milestone? Discovering our first product added crosslinking functionality—a game changer for material strength and durability. This insight helped secure our first off-take agreement with Worlée. How has your company culture evolved? We focus on transparency and continuous improvement. Feedback is built into our daily rhythm because we believe learning never stops—and that’s how you build excellence. What makes a great co-founder team? Persistence is key. Co-founders must keep pushing through challenges. We also believe in diverse teams. We’ve analyzed our strengths and gaps to keep growing, supported by a community of peers who generously share insights. We try to do the same. And as last, what is your dream for Relement? To build a successful, sustainable specialty chemicals company that sets new standards—and is a fun, challenging place to work! 

Relement collaborated with paint & coating company Royal Van Wijhe Verf and resin manufacturer Worlée Chemie to unveil a groundbreaking new biobased alkyd paint called BIOmotion70. With BIOmotion70, an 85% reduction in fossil solvent is achieved. Only 4% of that remains. This paint, with a reduction of the fossil content of approximately 50%, is a major step towards a fossil-free (paint) world.” This coating achieves performance close to Van Wijhe’s best performing flagship product, LBH SDT Ultra Gloss Paint, while being significantly more environmentally friendly. The BIOmotion70 concept paint, containing Relement's bio MPA, is made of 70% renewable materials according to the carbon 14 method, making it unique in the market. It offers excellent durability and quality, whilst reducing 60% solvent content. Relement’s launching performance ingredient bio MPA is the key enabler for achieving this result. The concept paint is a durable high gloss coating for exterior timber and is intended for professional painters, real estate maintenance management as well as quality-conscious consumers. Key Features: Bio MPA - Enabling ingredient BIOmotion70 incorporates bio MPA, replacing traditional petrochemical components. Bio MPA enables a low viscous alkyd resin, which results in the durable BIOmotion70 paint with only 4% petrochemical solvent (down from 30%). Durability BIOmotion70 has been extensively tested. Excellent drying at low temperatures, processability, flow and other properties are in line with current solvent-borne systems. The Concept Paint provides the ‘bulging gloss’ that is so desired by painters. We tested outdoor durability with rapid ageing. This is better than the known market references and it approaches the quality of our LBH SDT Ultra High Gloss Paint. Sustainability BIOmotion70, once commercially on the market can achieve an unique 3-star "OK Biobased" TÜV rating (C14 measured), with potential for further improvement. For more information please contact our CCO Monique Wekking: monique.wekking@relement.eu

Relement team is happy to announce we have contracted Weylchem-Allessa GmbH in Germany, to initiate industrial-scale production of our launching product bio MPA (3-methylphthalic anhydride). The first ton-scale production campaign is planned for late 2025, targeting commercial market introduction of bio MPA. For the production of bio MPA standard chemical unit operations are needed. Allessa (part of Weylchem Group) has extensive expertise and capabilities in chemical contract manufacturing that will ensure efficient large-scale production of bio MPA while upholding Relement’ high standards for quality and sustainability. Relement’ outsourcing strategy reduces time-to-market significantly compared to building our own flagship plant. We are impressed with Allessa’s capabilities and professionalism, which are a good fit with Relement’ needs. Furthermore, the close distance between Allessa and our largest customers will further facilitate logistics and communication. We are excited about the next step for our company. We are building a world scale, sustainable valuable chemical ingredients business. Our unique bio aromatic ingredients improve sustainability and product performance for e.g. coatings, adhesives and composite materials. For more information please contact our CTO Stefano Iannacone: stefano.iannacone@relement.eu