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FAQ - Quick answers to your questions

QIRA’s production journey starts with renewable plants, such as corn, removing CO2 from the atmosphere to form starch. After harvesting corn from local farmers in and around Eddyville, Iowa (USA) Cargill processes the starch into a simple sugar, glucose. The glucose is fermented by microorganisms in a novel production process which in the end produces 1,4-butanediol. After final distillation steps, QIRA has the same specified quality as conventional 1,4-butanediol and is ready to drop into existing production processes.

No. There are no changes necessary to the production process. As a drop-in solution, QIRA can almost instantly make today’s high-performance material solutions sustainable. As an innovation QIRA is very easy to implement and can seamlessly replace conventional 1,4 Butanediol. Find our more details here on how QIRA improves today’s applications and industries.

QIRA can save a lot of investment on R&D and production adaptations since QIRA’s specification allows it to be used as a drop-in replacement for conventional 1,4 Butanediol. Moreover, QIRA’s sales prices are much more stable than those for petrochemicals. The usually high volatility you can observe for petrochemical feedstocks does not apply to QIRA. Consequently, the implied price risk can be mitigated. Please contact us to discuss the benefits of QIRA for your organization.

QIRA’s specifications are identical or even superior to the specification of conventional BDO in terms of purity, moisture, and color. If you are interested in a detailed specification, please contact us.

QIRA samples are available on request. As it is a novel product, we offer samples to our partners that are committed to joining our ecosystem and implementing QIRA into their supply chains. Are you interested in learning more about joining our mission? Please contact us for more information.

QIRA is derived from the Arabic measurement scale “Qirat“ and is also related to “karat (or carat)“. Therefore, QIRA stands for highest quality and purity from precious resources found on earth.

The planned start of construction for QIRA’s plant is in the second half of 2021 at our site in Eddyville, Iowa. The plant will be completed in 2024. Please contact us for more information.

The use of QIRA covers a large variety of applications such as Spandex fibresThermoplastic PolyurethanePolyurethaneBio-Plastics and Polybutylene terephthalate.

The use of QIRA covers a wide variety of industries such as AutomotiveFashionElectronicsPackaging, etc. Please contact us to find out if QIRA is available for your industry.

QIRA is a major feedstock for a variety of materials. While its basic chemistry is the same for the different types of materials, producers all have their individual recipes to create a perfect fit for the final application. Speak to your material supplier to find out the exact bio content.

For a broad overview on QIRA’s impact on materials visit here.

Due to its unique manufacturing process and use of renewable feedstock QIRA can reduce the CO2 footprint compared to conventional BDO. As QIRA can be used for a variety of industries such as fashion, automotive, packaging, electronics, etc. it can play a role in making our planet more sustainable.

We currently convert corn to glucose syrup which is the feedstock for QIRA. For the foreseeable time, this will not change. However, QIRA is produced by Qore - a true champion in fermentation technology. As the technology evolves, other feedstock options could become feasible. If you want to learn about our approach regarding competition of first-generation feedstocks with global food supply, please visit here.

QIRA can be made from most forms of starch. Corn has a high starch content and is therefore our preferred feedstock option. Our farmers close to our production site in Eddyville, Iowa (USA) choose which crop to plant. So in essence we use both, genetically modified and organic corn. We trust in the expertise of our farmers.

QIRA will be 100% free of genetic material.

Please visit here for more details on QIRA’s production process.

We want to promote the use of QIRA for the multitude of applications. Therefore we not only call on material producers to turn QIRA into great solutions but jointly promote them to a variety of industries and brands.

By the same token, we would like to promote brands that either use or are interested in using QIRA-based materials for their products.

Together, we form the collaboration and momentum that puts sustainable solutions first!

Please get in touch with us to discuss how we can collaborate and grow the ecosystem.

Yes. There is no obligation to join however, we would welcome every new partner.