Aurora Renewable Carbon welcomes double expansion to its R&D team

We are very pleased to announce that Jimmy van Rijn joins Aurora Renewable Carbon as Head of R&D as of 1 September 2026. At the same time Ashton Asbury joins us as R&D Project Manager.

Both Jimmy and Ashton bring a wealth of experience in epoxy resin chemistry and development of high-performance materials. Expertise that is highly relevant to the deployment of Aurora's unique bio-phenolics products for resin applications. Jimmy and Ashton are joining us from their prior employer Westlake.

A key focus will be the further development of lignin-derived phenolic products for applications where phenol and bisphenol-based building blocks are currently used, including epoxy and phenolic resins for materials like insulation panels, coatings, composites, adhesives and other specialty applications.

The combination of Aurora's biorefinery technology with Jimmy and Ashton's deep resin development expertise creates an exciting opportunity to support our customers on developing novel bio-phenolic resin solutions.

Welcome to the team, Jimmy and Ashton. We look forward to developing the next generation of bio-based phenolics together.