Money, money, money

Even with the economic doldrums, there are still money floating around for green chems and biofuel. Here are some of the recent ones that came to the blog's attention. The blog, of course, already posted about Genomatica getting its $41.5m financing from new investor and partner Versalis as well as existing investors Alloy Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mohr Davidow Ventures, TPG Biotech, VantagePoint Capital Partners and Waste Management.

• Elevance raises $104m in its series E financing round led by Lacustrine Ltd (via Genting Genomics) and Total Energy Ventures.

• Global Bioenergies have raised EUR3.04m on Paris-based NYSE Alternext from 153,459 new shares issued with a price of EUR 19.80 per share. The company now has a market capitalization of around EUR36m ($45.5m). 

• Myriant receives $25m private bond placement under the US Department of Agriculture's Business and Industry loan guarantee program. Myriant is the first bio-based chemicals company to receive funding from USDA's B&I Rural Development Loan Guarantee program.

• Amyris will receive up to $82m from Total's funding budget over the next three years exclusively for the deployment of Amyris' Biofene in renewable diesel and jet fuel applications. Upon completion of the research and development program, Total and Amyris intend to form a joint venture company that would have exclusive rights to produce and market renewable diesel and/or jet fuel, as well as non-exclusive rights to other specialty products.

• Zeachem has been awarded part of a $6m grant by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and US Department of Energy (DOE) for the development of advanced biofuels utilizing tropical grasses. ZeaChem is part of a consortium led by the University of Hawaii that includes Oregon State University, Washington State University, Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company, and Hawaii BioEnergy LLC.

• Cooper Tire & Rubber Company and its consortium partners has been awarded $6.9m grant from the USDA. The four-year grant will focus on research efforts aimed at developing enhanced manufacturing processes, testing and utilizing of guayule natural rubber as a strategic source of raw material in tires, and evaluating the remaining biomass of the guayule plant as a source of bio-fuel for the transportation industry.

• Edeniq, a biomaterials and sustainable fuels company, has secured a $3.9 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC). The grant is part of California’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program, which provides funding for the development of new, California-based biofuel production facilities.

• Fulcrum Sierra Biofuels has received a $105m loan guarantee from the USDA to finance development of its facility that can convert municipal solid waste into advanced biofuels. Once operational, the plant is expected to convert 147,000 tons of processed municipal solid waste into over 10 million gallons of advanced biofuels annually using a two-part thermo-chemical process.

• Oakbio, the developer of microbe-based technology that captures CO2 from waste gas and converts the carbon into chemicals, has been awarded $474,843 in response to Grant Solicitation PON-11-502 of the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program of the California Energy Commission. Oakbio’s research grant project will be initiated August 2012 and will run for 2.5 years.

• Sweetwater Energy, a Rochester, NY-based cellulosic sugar manufacturer, has closed a $9m series A funding round. Earlier this year, Sweetwater began operation of its pilot-scale cellulosic sugar processing facility at its location in Rochester.

• Chemtex International has been selected by the USDA to participate in the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). The $3,996,000 award will support establishing and growing over 4,000 acres of miscanthus and switchgrass across eleven counties in North Carolina. This feedstock will be part of the biomass supply for Project Alpha, a 20 million gallon per year cellulosic ethanol biorefinery planned to be built in Sampson County with a plant startup expected in 2014.

PAST NEWS:
Inventure Renewables and its sister company, Inventure International, have closed a $5m round of financing in May with an option to increase funding in a second tranche to a total of $12 Million. Lead investor Wilmar International has taken an equity stake in both companies. A portion of the funds will be used to build and operate a pilot plant to convert palm fiber waste and sugar cane bagasse into mixed sugars, which can be used for fermentation into ethanol, butanol, and the creation of building blocks for a range of industrial chemicals.

Virdia, formerly HCL CleanTech, a developer of cellulosic sugars bagged in March, a $75 million deal with the Mississippi Development Authority to build manufacturing plants in the state. Virdia also raised over $20 million early this year from Khosla Ventures, Burrill & Company and Tamar Ventures. In addition, the company closed $10 million in a venture debt deal with Triple Point Capital.

BioAmber has completed its Series C round of financing with net proceeds of $30 million. The financing was closed in two tranches; a first tranche of $20 million on November 4th, 2011 with existing investors Naxos Capital, Sofinnova Partners, Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and the Cliffton Group, and a second tranche of $10 million on February 6th, 2012 with specialty chemicals company LANXESS.

LS9 received earlier this year a $4.5m funding from the Florida Opportunity Fund's (FOF) Clean Energy Investment program. The Clean Energy Investment Program was created to promote the adoption of EE/RE products and technologies in Florida by providing funding to businesses to increase the use of EE/RE technologies, equipment and materials in the State.

Biofuel News Roundup

Ok, so there have been more news on biofuel than I thought. I should have posted this last week. In the meantime, I am also looking at some of the recent earnings report that came out. As the blog posted before about rising ethanol prices because of drought, it looks like this is also affecting some renewable chemical companies based on Gevo's earnings call yesterday.

Speaking of Gevo, the blog has also been receiving several lawsuit updates against Butamax (including one today), so I guess it's that time of the month for another post in that area ;-).

Clariant starts cellulosic ethanol plant
Swiss specialty chemical company Clariant has opened Germany's biggest cellulosic ethanol pilot plant located in Straubing, Bavaria. The project will produce up to 1,000 tonnes of cellulosic ethanol using 4,500 tonnes of wheat straw based on the sunliquid processing technology developed by Clariant. The process, according to Clariant, is an innovative biotechnological method that turns plant waste products such as grain straw and corn straw into second-generation cellulose ethanol.

REG biodiesel now available
Biodiesel producer and marketer Renewable Energy Group (REG) will offer wholesale biodiesel  REG-9000 to large petroleum jobbers or large fleets beginning mid-August under a new agreement with Maxum Petroleum at its Rancho Dominguez (California) terminal location outside Long Beach. REG also recently announced biodiesel availability at a terminal near Lebanon, Ohio, and its own terminal in Clovis, New Mexico.

AFS BioOil aims $2/gal biodiesel
AFS BioOil has conducted initial tests on its algae production system, and the company states that they will be in the $2 per gallon range of production at commercial scale. For advanced biofuels, commercial scale is at least 1 million gallons per year of production. The company along with a renewable electricity firm are planning a 5 MW renewable electricity and 1-2m gal/year biodiesel projects. The companies are at a design stage and will release actual scope of the projects in the third quarter.

Azul Brazilian Airlines uses Amyris biofuel
Azul Brazilian Airlines has successfully demonstrated a flight using sugarcane jet fuel produced by Amyris. The Embraer E195 jet operated by Azul departed from Campinas Viracopos Airport, flew over Rio de Janeiro and landed at Rio's Santos Dumont Airport.

Algae.Tec commissions biofuel facility
Australia-based Algae.Tec has opened its advanced engineered algae to biofuels facility in Nowra, New South Wales. The facility is connected to the Manildra Group waste carbon dioxide site, which is used in the algae growth process. Algae.Tec also has projects with Holcim Lanka, joint venture discussions in China, and a manufacturing base in Atlanta, Georgia (USA)

Solazyme receives EPA registration
Solazyme has been granted registration for SoladieselRD fuel by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The registration enables SoladieselRD to be sold commercially either in blended and unblended (R100) form. SoladieselRD is said to be compatible with existing infrastructure and can be used with factory-standard diesel engines without modifications.

Novozymes partners with Shengquan
​Shengquan Group, a Shandong-based company specializing in furan resin and polymers, and Novozymes, a world leader in bioinnovation, formed a partnership deal enabling Shengquan to start commercial-scale production of cellulosic ethanol for solvents in June 2012 using Novozymes’ technology. Using Novozymes enzymes, Shengquan will now convert corncob residues from furfural production into fermentable sugars and then into ethanol for solvents and other purposes.

Petrobras to produce biodiesel 
Petrobras Biofuel and the State of Rio Grande do Norte signed a memorandum where Petrobras plans to build an experimental biodiesel plant, located in the municipality of Guamaré for commercial production . With investments of R$ 5.1m, the unit will start in the first half of 2013, with a capacity to produce 20m liters/year of biodiesel.

ICM contracts ACA BIO for ethanol plant
ICM has signed a contract with ACA Bio Cooperative Limitada to design a dry-mill corn ethanol plant with a 40m gal/year capacity located near the city of Villa Maria, in the central province of Cordoba, Argentina. Completion of the facility is expected in the first quarter of 2014. Ethanol production from ACA Bio will focus primarily on the country's domestic markets.

EPEC partners with BioDimensions
Florida-based EPEC Biofuels Holdings Inc. has partnered with BioDimensions Delta BioRenewables (BDBR) of Memphis, Tennessee, to advance EPEC's Ethanol 2.0 platform towards commercialization. BDBR produces, process, and a downstream user of sweet sorghum and has integrated a mechanized system from field-to-factory. EPEC is a development stage company intent on owning and operating ethanol facilities using sweet sorghum on host farms across the US.

DIC Group in spirulina biofuel
Tokyo-based specialty chemical firm DIC Corp. announced that its California subsidiary Earthrise Nutritionals has entered an algae licensing deal with Sapphire Energy, where the company will integrate Earthrise Nutritionals' spirulina strain into its growing inventory of cyanobacteria and algae strains for algae-to-energy production or green crude - a drop-in replacement for petro-based crude oil. DIC Group is the world’s largest supplier of Spirulina, which it has been producing for use in health foods and food colorings since the 1970s.

Sundrop uses ExxonMobil tech
Sundrop Fuels, a gasification-based drop-in advanced biofuels company, has finalized a licensing agreement to use ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company’s methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) technology to be incorporated into its “green gasoline” production facility located near Alexandria, Louisiana, which will use forest waste for feedstock. The facility will produce up to 50m gal/year renewable gasoline and is expected to start later this year.

Plymouth Energy picks Edeniq
Plymouth Energy has been using Edeniq's proprietary Cellunator milling equipment at its 50m gal.year corn ethanol facility Merrill, western Iowa, since the first quarter of the year. Plymouth said it has achieved a 3% yield boost since the Cellunators were installed. which enables to easily convert sugars from corn and other plant materials to produce biofuels.

Dyadic launches biofuel enzyme
Dyadic International has unveiled its latest biofuels enzyme AlternaFuel CMAX3, which enables the production of cellulosic biofuels and biobased chemicals from a wide range of renewable non-food feedstocks under broad pH and temperature ranges. The enzyme is said to be the latest generation of a cellulase and hemicellulase complex based on Dyadic's C1 platform technology.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
China targets to use 478m tonnes of renewable energy by 2015

Brazilian ethanol exports to US surge as trade window remains open

Europe Q3 ethanol contracts fall on macroeconomic concerns

US arrests man accused of selling $50m in phony biofuel credits

Weekly News Roundup

The blog's favorite motto: Better late than never. Here is this week's news roundup. I will post another one on biofuels.

Gevo ships bio-isobutanol products
Gevo has shipped initial volumes of bio-isobutanol from its 250,000 gal/year plant in Luverne, Minnesota. Gevo is sending isobutanol to both chemical and non-automobile jet fuel customers. The company expects to reach full-capacity run rates in Luverne by year-end 2013.

EcoSynthetix partners with FutureMark
FutureMark Paper Company has signed a 3-year contract for a minimum of 2.45m dry pounds/year of EcoSynthetix's EcoSphere biolatex binders delivered to its Alsip, Illinois, mill. EcoSynthetix's biolatex is an alternative for petroleum-based styrene butadiene latex in FutureMark's paper coating.

Dow uses Betafoam in cavity seating
Dow Automotive Systems, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company has introduced a new cavity sealing solution called BETAFOAM™ Renue polyurethane rigid foam system made with 25% renewable based materials. BETAFOAM is typically used to seal vehicle cavities to provide advantages in managing noise, vibration and harshness and offers improved acoustical performance of one to five decibels.

...and produces encapsulants for solar panels
Dow Chemical begun production in Thailand for ENLIGHT™ Polyolefin Encapsulant Films for use in photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. Dow is also constructing a third manufacturing site for this film in Schkopau, Germany. Dow has had a production facility in Findlay, Ohio, since December 2010. Demand for PV modules remains strong, according to Dow, and currently is projected to grow at 20% a year globally, for the next several years.

BioSolar completes certification
BioSolar has completed all technical UL certifications necessary to begin shipping BioBacksheet to solar manufacturers. BioSolar’s patented BioBacksheet is the world’s first UL certified solar panel backsheet made from renewable plant-based materials. In order for solar panels containing BioBacksheet to be sold in the general marketplace, full panel samples must be submitted to UL for UL 1703 certifications.

Matheson, Syngest fertilizer partnership
MATHESON and Syngest have entered a deal where MATHESON will supply 100% of the oxygen and nitrogen for Syngest's BioAmmonia and BioUrea projects. Syngest is entering commercial deployment of its biomass gasification process to produce nitrogen fertilizer BioAmmonia and BioUrea.

Cereplast bags patent
Cereplast has been granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent 8,222,320 for high heat resistant polymer compositions having polylactic acid (PLA). PLA has limitations in terms of melt strength and heat resistance, which has restricted its use for high temperature applications. Cereplast said its high heat PLA compositions can be industrially compostable and can retain their structural properties at temperatures greater than 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius).

And from ICIS News (requires subscription):
Brazilian petrochemical producer Braskem said the company is yet to set deadlines for three projects -- ethanol-based polypropylene (PP) plant, a second ethanol-based polyethylene (PE) plant, and a naphtha-based PP plant. Braskem denied a recent news which reported that the company would delay the three projects.

Trade organizations involved in the US building formed a coalition -- the American High-Performance Building Coalition (AHPBC) -- to push for science–based “green” building standards that include more input by those groups. The coalition was formed in reaction to green building requirements now under consideration by the US General Services Administration (GSA).

US chemical sector officials expressed disappointment and concern over a Senate committee vote to advance a major chemicals management reform bill, the “Safe Chemicals Act”, that is widely opposed by industry. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works voted 10-8 to approve the bill, which is designed to modernise the 36-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the principal federal law governing chemicals in commerce.

Waste-to-energy projects going strong

I am still working on the weekly news roundup but this news about waste-to-energy keep popping up on my email inbox so we might as well take a brief look and see what's going on in this sector.

I have written an article on ICIS Chemical Business about the waste plastic-to-energy market last year where Dow Chemical is one of the companies looking into the PTF (plastic-to-fuel) technology. Some of the companies involved in this field include Agilyx. Plastic2Oil (JBI) and Nexus Fuels, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

According to a January study prepared by research firm RTI International for the ACC, there are two types of advanced conversion technologies being used in this industry: gasification and pyrolysis. The primary difference between the two is the feedstock used.

Pyrolysis technologies are generally suited to handle feedstock from non-recycled plastics while gasification accepts all municipal solid waste (MSW) including non-recycled plastics.

According to the study, gasification of MSW saves 6.5m to 13m BTU/ton and 0.3-0.6 tons of carbon equivalent emissions per ton compared to landfill disposal. Pyrolysis, which converts plastics to oil or gas, saves 1.8-3.6m BTU/ton and 0.15-0.25 tons of carbon equivalent per ton over landfill disposal.

RTI identified 41 advanced conversion technology facilities that are under development or undergoing demonstration in North America that that will accept MSW or non-recycled plastics as feedstocks.

Vendors of pyrolysis technology includes Agilyx, Envion, Global Climax Energy, JBI. Gasification technology developers include Enerkem, Plasco, Ze-gen, Geoplasma. Most of these companies are definitely new to the blog!

Anyway, just today, US-based industrial gas company Air Products announced that it will build and operate the world's largest renewable energy plant in the UK using the Westinghouse advanced gasification energy-from-waste (EfW) technology provided by AlterNRG.

The Tees Valley plant located near Bilingham, Teesside, will have a capacity of 50MW and is expected to power up to 50,000 homes. According to Air Products, it will divert up to 350,000 tonnes/year of non-recyclable waste from landfill. The facility is expected to start operation in 2014.

Proposed Air Products facility

New companies that caught the blog's attention also includes Nexterra Systems, which just dedicated a biomass gasification energy plant late last month at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ONL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; NY-based ZeroPoint Clean Tech, which already deployed two biomass gasification systems, one in Ireland and the other in Germany; and Covanta Energy, which completed its commercial demonstration testing of its gasification technology in April.

Covanta Energy's gasification unit can process 350 tons/day of post-recycled municipal solid waste which does not have to be pre-treated.

Battle over RFS heats up

So many things going on in the US ethanol market especially current  drought conditions for corn crops (and even soybeans for biodiesel).

Corn prices are going up and that means ethanol prices have been going up too especially when some ethanol plants have been idled because of the lack in demand, which could mean lower ethanol inventories going forward. According to an ICIS news* article, the US Department of Agriculture trimmed its projected yield for 2012 corn by 12% as of its July estimate.

Ethanol producers Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Grain Processing Corp., and MGP Ingredients have all announced price increases for their ethanol citing higher corn prices, according to ICIS.



Because of the higher corn-derived products prices resulting from the drought, industry food groups such as the National Chicken Council, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the National Pork Producers Council and other meat and poultry trade groups (dairy, milk, turkey, sheep, etc...) are requesting several US Congress representatives to petition for a change in the 2012 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The RFS requires 13.2bn gallons of corn-based ethanol to be produced in 2012 and 13.8bn gallons in 2013. The trade groups argue that the RFS requirement is aggravating the drought impact on food prices.

According to an August 2* article from ICIS News, more than 150 Republican and Democrat members of Congress have signed a letter to the EPA requesting the RFS amendment.

The coalition opposed to the current RFS mandate noted some agricultural forecasters estimate' of 11.8bn bushels of corn will be harvested this year, compared with about 13bn that were harvested last year. Under those conditions, corn-ethanol production will use about four of every 10 bushels, the coalition said.

Meanwhile, several biofuel groups have also been arming themselves as they urged the EPA to maintain the RFS mandate.

Today, eight biofuel industry organizations namely -- the Advanced Biofuels Association, Advanced Ethanol Council, Algae Biomass Organization (ABO), American Coalition for Ethanol, Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), Growth Energy, National Biodiesel Board (NBB) and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) -- have formed a new council called Biofuels Producers Coordinating Council.

The new council will jointly advocate for the EPA to maintain the RFS mandate. According to the council, US production of biofuels has tripled since the adoption of the RFS standard.

“Undermining the RFS will have a chilling effect on the development of cellulosic feedstocks that are not used for food or feed. The RFS is important for all biofuels, but it is critically important for cellulosic feedstock process development. To undermine the RFS now would wound this feedstock development effort that in the long run is going to help both farmers and ranchers. This aspect is often neglected by the media and is not well understood by cattle ranchers, pork and chicken producers." - BIO

The EPA has yet to respond to the RFA waiver petition from members of Congress.

*requires subscription

Metabolix to produce PHA with Antibioticos

I am still trying to catch up with news from last week and here was another big one that came from bioplastic producer Metabolix.

If readers recall, Metabolix had a fall out with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) early this year and had since then been looking for alternative plans to produce its polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) resins dubbed Mirel.

The company announced on July 26 that is has signed a letter of intent with Spain-based Antibioticos S.A. to produce Mirel at its manufacturing facility in Leon. Metabolix said "it will begin work immediately with Antibioticos to conduct a series of validation production runs to demonstrate fermentation and recovery of Mirel biopolymer resin on full production-scale equipment at Antibioticos."

Based upon the validation production runs and completion of economic and engineering feasibility studies, Metabolix intends to enter a definitive contract manufacturing deal to produce Mirel.

If Antibioticos sounds familiar to you, it is because this Spanish penicillin producer has formerly been working with Amyris on planning to commercially produce sugar-based farnesene molecules. Early this year, Amyris scrapped its plans with Antibioticos.

According to an ICIS news article (subscription required) written by colleague Clay Boswell, Metabolix expects commercial supply of Mirel from Antibioticos' plant to begin in 2013. Metabolix aims to initially produce 10,000 tonnes/year of Mirel through Antibioticos, a scale that Metabolix said is sufficient to supply existing customers while continuing to develop the market.

Metabolix said it still has existing inventory of 5m pounds of Mirel produced from ADM's Clinton, Iowa, plant.

During its second quarter earnings call also on July 26, Metabolix noted that it has also started shipping sample quantities of dried biomass for conversion to bio-based acrylic acid for customer evaluation. The company reportedly had a successful scale-up recovery of acrylic acid from dried biomass in Metabolix's Cambridge laboratory in the second quarter of 2012.

The company so far has been confident with the development of its C3 and C4 chemical platforms this year. According to a recent Jefferies analyst report on Metabolix, the company estimated benchmark potential manufacturing costs for the PHA-based gamma butyrolactone (GBL) at around 50c.-60c./lb and for PHA-based 1,4 butanediol (BDO) at 80c.-90c./lb.

Genomatica Withdraws IPO

Christophe Schilling, Genomatica CEO

So the blog found out yesterday that Genomatica withdraws its $100m IPO (initial public offering), which it registered with the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August last year.

Unfortunately, the news was under embargo so I was not able to post it immediately. According to Genomatica's SEC statement today, the company withdrew the registration "in light of current market conditions."

The company was also able to secure a private funding worth $41.5m from new investor (and partner) Versalis -- an Italy-based chemical company, and existing investors Alloy Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mohr Davidow Ventures, TPG Biotech, VantagePoint Capital Partners and Waste Management.

In my interview with Genomatica CEO Christophe Schilling yesterday, he noted that the company is also focusing its business model more on licensing its technologies as opposed to operating assets.

"In view of the current market environment, the private financing will give us better opportunity to demonstrate our technology and differentiate our business model. Our business model is more like a UOP-type licensing model as opposed to operating assets. We are positioned to offer process technology, not a producer of chemicals." - Schilling

Still, Schilling said it will still enter the public market again if opportunity exists as the company moves forward.

According to Genomatica, the $41.5m financing will be used partly for commercialization of the company's 1,4 butanediol (BDO) technology as well as expanding the company's portfolio including the newly announced bio-based butadiene (BD) development with Versalis.

Speaking of this partnership, Genomatica wants to clear out some of the blog's musings on this deal. It seems that there are other routes and processing that can produce butadiene aside from using 1,4 BDO or 2,3 BDO, which the blog posted before.

Schilling said they will not use 1,4 BDO or even 2,3 BDO to produce butadiene for this partnership with Versalis and Novamont.

"At this point, all we are comfortably sharing is that Genomatica has multiple technologies that it is developing to produce butadiene. As far as specific technology and the routes that we are developing, we are not disclosing those. We've done 1,4 BDO to butadiene but we think that there are some better ways to make a lot more economical sense to produce bio-based butadiene and even better than using 2,3 BDO as well. Versalis has understand and has seen this value, hence the partnership." - Schilling

More interesting tidbits from the interview:

• The 40m lb/year planned commercial bio-BDO facility between Novamont and Genomatica is completely separate from the Versalis partnership. This facility is located in Adria, Italy, and is expected to initially produce bio-BDO in 2013.

• When asked if the Matrica joint venture (Versalis and Novamont 50/50 partnership) will consider producing bio-BDO at Porto Torres in Sardinia, Italy, Genomatica said it has not disclosed this type of information. (In short, no comment).

• Genomatica also did not talk about any timeline for the production of bio-butadiene with Versalis, although my colleague Andy Brice had an exclusive interview with Versalis CEO Daniele Ferrari. According to his article on ICIS News (requires subscription), the partnership will be capable of industrializing at least part of the bio-butadiene processing technology within the next 2-3 years, with a plant possible within 4 years.

“At the moment we don’t have a precise location for any plants but obviously it has to be close to an agricultural supply chain and supply of biomass, and has to be close to the elastomers business in the future. We don’t know about the size of the plants at the moment because we need to decide on the process and technology first.” - Versalis' Daniele Ferrari.

Cobalt, Rhodia to build n-butanol demo plant

So the blog just had its interview with Genomatica with some juicy details, which unfortunately, will have to wait until tomorrow.

In the meantime, bio-butanol producer Cobalt Technologies announced today that it is moving forward with plans to build a bagasse-based n-butanol demonstration facility in Brazil alongside its partner Rhodia, a France-based specialty chemicals company owned by Solvay.

Rhodia and Cobalt started their collaboration in October last year. Following a demonstration plant, the companies said they plan to construct multiple biorefineries co-located with sugar mills initially in Brazil and then in other Latin American countries.

The companies did not disclose the location of the demo facility as well as capacity of the plant although according to Steven Shevick, chief financial officer of Cobalt in an email, the demo fermentor will be 1/10 the size of a commercial scale fermentor. According to Shevick, this is well within normal industry scale-up parameters.

According to Vincent Kamel, president of Rhodia Coatis Business unit (also via email), a commercial bio-butanol plant will produce up to 100,000 tonnes/year of the product. So if my math is correct....the demo facility will probably be around 10,000 tonnes/year.

Shevick said the companies are working with a top 5 sugar partner to install the demo facility near a sugar mill.

"Demo testing is expected to be completed no later than Q3 2013. The decision to build a commercial plant will be made in Q4 of 2013, and the plant would be running in time for the sugar harvest in the Spring 2015." - Shevick

Detailed cost estimates for the demo plant are also not disclosed but Shevick said they do not expect the cost to exceed $15m.

I wrote an article about this collaboration in December 2011 for ICB, and according to Rhodia back then, demand for butanol in Latin America is around 80,000 tonnes, and is forecasted to grow to 200,000 tonnes in 2015.

"The development of [the] bio-based n-butanol market is strategic to Rhodia's business growth ambitions in the region bearing in mind that the company now uses imported butanol to produce solvents such as butyl acetate. Rhodia plans to replace this imported butanol will bio-based n-butanol."

Shevick said its product price range could be between 40-60% below petroleum-based n-butanol depending on the feedstock. Cobalt Technologies' offering is the production of low-cost n-butanol using cellulosic biomass as feedstock.

In April 2011, Cobalt has partnered with US biorefinery technology firm American Process Inc. (API) to build a commercial-scale cellulosic biorefinery in Alpena, Michigan, US, which is expected to produce 470,000 gal/year of bio-based n-butanol by late 2012. The Alpena biorefinery is funded in part by an $18m US Department of Energy grant and a $4m grant from the State of Michigan.

UPDATE as of 8/10/12: The graphs used in this post came from Cathay Industrial Biotech Ltd.'s S-1 prospectus. Nexant was commissioned to do the market report for the prospectus.

Versalis, Genomatica, Novamont partnership

Hello blog world! My apologies for the abrupt silence as the blogger did not have enough time to post an "Out of Office - I'm on a Marvelous Vacation" message. It's either posting or packing, and packing won hands down.

So coming back today and checking my 700+ emails, this news from Versalis, Novamont and Genomatica first caught my attention. In fact, I will have an interview with Genomatica CEO Christophe Schilling tomorrow morning.

The three companies announced on July 24 about their proposed partnership to produce biomass-based butadiene - a key raw material for the production of rubber.

Check my previous post for more on bio-based rubber developments.

Under the agreement, Versalis will use Genomatica's process technology to produce the bio-butadiene. One possible route to produce 1, 3 butadiene is the fermentation of sugars to 1,4 butanediol (which is what Genomatica has been developing) and then subsequent dehydration to butadiene.

Other possible routes also includes conversion of biobutanol to butenes and then to butadiene using the oxidative dehydrogenation process (remember Lanxess and Gevo's partnership?); and conversion of 2,3 butanediol to butadiene using a dehydration process (LanzaTech is looking at this as well with Synthos and Global Bioenergies).

Versalis, by the way, is a leading elastomers producer in Europe. According to Versalis, butadiene supply is increasingly becoming constrained and is subjected to availability problems.

"Decreasing supplies and a lack of dedicated butadiene production facilities have resulted in significant long-term pressure on the price and volatility of the chemical, which in turn increases the price of butadiene-based products, including tires. 

Concerns of scarcity in the butadiene market are compounded by growth forecasts within the BRIC countries where demand for automotive products made from butadiene, such as tires, is expected to increase."

Now if readers recall, Genomatica and Novamont already announced a previous joint venture deal in August 2011 to produce renewable-based butanediol (1,4 BDO) in a 40m lb/year plant in Italy starting late this year. The companies did not initially indicate where this plant is going to be located but then Novamont and Versalis also has a 50:50 joint venture called Matrica, which is planning to set up a EUR 500m biorefinery project in Versalis' Porto Torres complex in Sardinia, Italy.

So we put two and two together and could come up with a conclusion that Versalis and Novamont could produce the Genomatica-based butadiene as well as its feedstock BDO at Porto Torres. Whether that will be the 40m lb/year planned bio-BDO capacity or not is a question that the blog will ask Genomatica tomorrow.

The blog also does not know yet how much butadiene Versalis aims to produce and when they plan to start producing bio-butadiene.

BPA ban on baby bottles, cups

The US Food and Drug Administration finally ruled today under its food additive regulations that manufacturers of polycarbonate baby bottles and sippy cups (including closures and lids) should no longer use bisphenol-A (BPA) as an additive.

This action is in response to the American Chemistry Council's (ACC) petition to amend the food additive regulation given that BPA use for these products has already been abandoned.

For a chemical explanation on the use of BPA in polycarbonate resin - the resins are formed
by the condensation of 4,4′- isopropylenediphenol (such as BPA), and carbonyl chloride or
diphenyl carbonate.

According to the ACC petition, companies that produce PC resins claim that baby bottles and sippy cups manufactured from PC resins are no longer being introduced into the U.S. market and that manufacturers of baby bottles and sippy cups have abandoned the use of PC resins in making these products.

An industry poll by the ACC also noted that PC resin manufacturers, which represent over 97% of worldwide PC resin production capacity, are no longer selling PC resins to be used in the manufacture of baby bottles and sippy cups intended for import into the United States or sale
in the U.S. market.

“Although governments around the world continue to support the safety of BPA in food contact materials, confusion about whether BPA is used in baby bottles and sippy cups had become an unnecessary distraction to consumers, legislators and state regulators,” said Steven G. Hentges, Ph.D., of the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group of ACC.

“FDA action on this request now provides certainty that BPA is not used to make the baby bottles and sippy cups on store shelves, either today or in the future.”

Still, the use of BPA-based epoxy resins as coatings in canned packaging is still being criticized by advocacy groups.

Also today, the FDA's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) received yet another petition this time from the US representative Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) to ban BPA from infant formula packaging.

The FDA is now calling for comments until September 17, 2012 on the lawmaker's petition.

In March 2012, Representative Markey sent three separate petitions to the FDA requesting the agency permanently remove regulatory approval for the use of BPA in baby and toddler food packaging, small reusable household food and beverage containers, and canned food packaging on the grounds that manufacturers have abandoned use of BPA in these products.

“With the FDA moving forward with my petition, and coupled with the American Chemistry Council petition to end the use of BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups, industry practice can follow consumer demand, and we will be able to end the use of BPA in infant formula forever. There are viable alternatives for BPA in food packaging, and I urge companies to stop poisoning our food supply with this dangerous chemical. FDA now must complete and make public their long overdue assessment of BPA’s health impacts and make clear its next steps for ensuring our entire food supply is free from this damaging chemical.” - Rep. Markey

According to Markey, canned food and beverage companies like Coca-Cola, ConAgra and Pepsico have openly opposed transition away from use of BPA.

It has been a while since the blog covered the BPA issue. For more background, here are some of our past posts on BPA.

ADM offers bio-isosorbide as BPA alternative

Eastman's 50-yr old BPA-free Tritan

BPA Q&A with metal packaging group

Corn-based BPA alternative

A chemical consultant's view on BPA

EPA moves in on BPA

BPA-free baby bowl 

FDA supports reduced BPA use

Codexis, Shell in fuel discussion

Codexis announced today that it is under exclusive discussion with Shell that would give Codexis certain rights and licenses to develop and sell their cellulase enzymes to third parties in the biofuels field on a worldwide basis except Brazil.

Codexis said it has exclusive rights to commercialize its cellulase enzyme technology in all other fields (such as chemicals).

“Currently, Codexis’ cellulase enzyme technology can only be commercialized in the advanced biofuels field through Shell and its affiliates. If we finalize a new agreement with Shell as we currently anticipate, the rest of the world’s second generation biofuels producers will now also be available as target customers for our cost effective cellulase enzyme technology,” said John Nicols, Codexis’ President and Chief Executive Officer.

Shell can also elect to reduce between 13 and 48 full time employee equivalents under the Codexis-Shell research collaboration on one day notice beginning on August 31. The previous required notice for this redundancy was 90 days.

Codexis said it would take appropriate cost reduction measures to reduce its operating expenses if Shell will provide this notice to Codexis.

Panasonic, Nike in bio-resins

I thought at first that bio-propanediol (PDO) is now being used on television parts (is it?).

But according to this press release from DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products, Panasonic Corporation Eco Solutions Company (part of Panasonic Group) is instead using resins made from DuPont Tate & Lyle's Susterra bio-PDO for its line of kitchen and bathroom systems.

The compounded plant-based and petroleum-based resins are being used to manufacture Panasonic's kitchen countertops in the "Living Station" product line and the bathroom ceilings in the "Cococino" product line, which are being marketed in the Asia Pacific region.

The biobased materials also are being used for the wash basins and toilets in the Panasonic product line.

"We are delighted to be the first in the industry with a biobased commercialized product offering. This achievement contributes to Panasonic's sustainability goals as outlined in Green Plan 2018. The year 2018 is the 100th anniversary of the Panasonic Company," commented Kazumasa Rokushima, director of the General Technology & Products Development Center, Housing Systems Business Group at the Panasonic Eco Solutions Company.

Meanwhile, Nike announced last week that it will soon start selling its most environment-friendly Nike GS football boot on August 15. The Nike GS boot is constructed using combined renewable-based and recycled materials.

The Nike GS  sole plate is said to be made of 50% Pebax® Renew (a plant derived material made with 97% castor beans made French specialty chemical company Arkema) and 50% renewable-based thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU).

The boot laces, lining and tongue are made from a minimum of 70% recycled materials. The toeboard and collar, feature at least 15% recycled materials.

Weekly News Roundup

I'd better put this out before this list gets longer. Some of the news that the blog missed for the past two weeks....

Grace and Braskem in catalysts
W.R. Grace and Braskem have partnered on a multi-year collaboration to develop process technologies and catalyst solutions to produce green chemicals. The agreement is intended to advance the commercialization of a process to convert renewably sourced feedstocks into value-added products. Details and financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

hte AG partners with Elevance
hte - the high throughput experimentation company and Elevance Renewable Sciences are collaborating on the development of bio-based specialty lubricants. hte will use its in-house developed multifold high throughput autoclave testing unit.

Aemetis in buying spree
Aemetis has acquired Cilion, Inc., including a 55m gallon/year (mgy) ethanol production plant located in Keyes, CA. The acquisition advances Aemetis' plans to use the existing ethanol plant's infrastructure to create a biorefinery producing advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals in addition to ethanol and animal feed products. Third Eye Capital, Aemetis' existing senior lender, provided a $15m term loan and an $18m working capital financing facility to assist Aemetis in the acquisition and to provide ongoing working capital.

Cargill buys bio-lube biz
Cargill has purchased the global Envirotemp FR3 fluid business and brand from Cooper Power Systems, a subsidiary of Cooper Industries. Cargill currently manufactures the patented, FR3 renewable dielectric fluid made from vegetable oil that is used in a wide range of applications for transformers and other electrical equipment.

BASF sells marine biopolymers
BASF SE has sold its Chitosan marine biopolymers business to Norwegian company Seagarden ASA. The biopolymers are used in personal care products and as pharmaceutical ingredients. The Chitosan business includes a production site in Tromsoe, Norway.

BASF's eco-label database triples in size
BASF's SELECT™ (Sustainability, Eco-Labeling and Environmental Certification Tracking) Eco-Label Manager has nearly tripled in size to 270 programs up from 100 programs the previous year. The SELECT Eco-Label Manager is a database that manages the abundance of eco-labels, environmental claims, directories and ratings systems strategically by allowing users to search, analyze and compare these programs in a structured and consistent format.

Oakbio's biopolymer from cement plant
Oakbio successfully produce biodegradable bioplastic polymers in their bioreactor systems using inputs of cement plant flue gas and electricity. The technology uses bioreactors driven by non-toxic microbes to capture CO2 and convert it to a products directly from the plant's gas emissions. The carbon conversion process is said to yield over 50% bioplastics in microbe biomass by dry weight.

Cardia Bioplastic's packaging alliance
Cardia Bioplastics and rigid plastic packaging company, Alto Packaging, have formed a partnership to produce high performance packaging solutions, manufactured with Cardia's thermoplastic cornstarch resins. Cardia's Biohybrid™ resins combine renewable thermoplastics with oil-based polymer material.

Global Bioenergies opens US branch
Global Bioenergies has expanded its global business operations into the US, opening a branch facility in Ames, Iowa. The new operation will focus on Global Bioenergies' program for bioconversion of renewable resources into isobutene and other light olefins.

Codexis' carbon capture tech displayed
Codexis' pilot-scale demonstration of its carbon capture technology conducted at the National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) in Wilsonville, Alabama, shows that enzymes have promise to facilitate CO2 capture at coal-fired power plants. This is the largest scale that enzyme-based carbon capture technology has been demonstrated to date, with the equivalent daily capture rate of 1,800 average sized trees per day. Codexis developed this patented technology under a license granted by CO2 Solutions, Inc.

Cereplast partners with Albis Plastic
Cereplast has entered a distribution deal with Hamburg, Germany-based ALBIS PLASTIC GMBH to supply Cereplast bioplastic resins to the United Kingdom and Ireland. ALBIS PLASTIC will distribute both Cereplast Compostables® resins, with an emphasis on blown film grades and blow molding grades, as well as Cereplast Sustainables® resins, including the Cereplast Hybrid Resins® product line.

Global biogas market to reach $33bn
The biogas market reached $17.3bn in global revenue in 2011 and will nearly double by 2022, hitting $33.1 billion in that year, according to a new report from Pike Research. The market for biogas sits at the confluence of a number of forces, including increasing demand for distributed generation, tightening environmental regulations, and accelerating buildout of infrastructure for natural gas and for vehicles powered by natural gas.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
Bio-based polyethylene (PE) is projected to have the best opportunities for growth among bioplastics through 2016 because of lower prices with expanding production capacity, according to Cleveland-based industry research firm The Freedonia Group.

Singapore's Strategic Petroleum has built a new system capable of converting different types of waste materials into synthesis gas (syngas), which in turn can be used to produce power, methane gas or petrochemicals.

A US appellate court dismissed the legal challenge to federal regulation of greenhouse gases (GHG) filed by a broad coalition of industries and several states, saying the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may rightly impose limits on such emissions.

The chemical industry has been at the forefront of the emerging green economy and without chemical businesses a green society cannot happen, the Chemical Industries Association (CIA) said.

SDK starts bio-PBS sampling

The blog just noted in its last post about increasing activities from Japanese chemical companies, and in a happy coincidence, Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) just announced today that it has succeeded in producing its polybutylene succinate (PBS) resin under the trademark Bionolle using bio- based succinic acid.

PBS, a compostable polyester, is traditionally made from petrochemical-based succinic acid and 1,4 butanediol (BDO). The BDO part in SDK's Bionolle is probably still made from petrochemical feedstock. SDK's Bionolle Starcla is made from a combination of Bionolle (PBS) and starch.

Myriant is the company's bio-succinic acid supplier.

According to SDK, it has started providing the renewable-based Bionolle film-grade samples to customers such as Natur-Tec, a US-based bioplastic products manufacturer. Natur-Tec is already using petrochemical-based Bionolle for certain high-volume consumer goods packaging applications.

"Our customers are increasingly demanding higher biobased carbon content in our materials, in order to reduce the overall carbon footprint of their finished products. We are excited at the possibility of incorporating SDK's bio-derived Bionolle into our compounds and converted plastic products, to meet this burgeoning market demand." - Natur-Tec

SDK said it is planning to secure 10,000-20,000 tons/year of bio-based succinic acid to expand sales of its renewable-based Bionolle.

Another company already producing bio-based PBS (containing bio-succinic acid) is Japan-based Mitsubishi Chemical Company. The company estimated the PBS market worldwide at 5,000-6,000 tonnes/year, and is expected to grow to 50,000 tonnes/year in the next five years.

More Japanese firms in green chems

So the green blogger received a call yesterday from a Japanese chemical firm inquiring about bio-based paraxylene (PX). The caller said their Chinese clients have become more interested in renewable-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

 

Of course, this is a very interesting news for me and I'm hoping to get first dibs on further developments from this company. By the way, for more on bio-PX developments, you can read my story published on March 12 at ICIS Chemical Business.

Anyway, I have been noticing since last year how more and more Japanese chemical companies are more readily on-board when it comes to using plant-based chemicals.

Cases in point are the following recent announcements:

• Japan-based Toray and US bio-isobutanol producer Gevo signed an off-take deal for Toray to source renewable-based paraxylene (PX) that will be produced at Gevo's planned pilot facility. Where that pilot facility is going to be built remains a question. Gevo is currently working on bio-isobutanol-based PX in a contracted facility at Silsbee, Texas, US, owned by US specialty chemical firm South Hampton Resources. According to Toray, it will use the bio-PX produced by Gevo to carry out its own pilot-scale production of bio-based PET. Toray plans to offer samples of bio-PET fibers and films to customers in 2013 for market evaluation.
• Toray has also been working with Japanese specialty chemical company Ajinomoto on the development of nylon raw material 1,5 pentanediamine (1,5 PD) using plant-based amino acid lysine via Ajinomoto's fermentation technology

• Japan-based Sojitz has acquired sales rights to Brazil-based Braskem's green polyethylene (PE) bioplastic made from sugarcane. Sojitz' synthetic resin subsidiary Sojitz Planet Corporation will aim to sell 20,000 tons/year of green PE products in Japan and Asia-Pacific in three years. 
• Also late last year, Sojitz started working with US bio-succinic acid producer Myriant to develop plastics made from succinic acid. It also has acquired exclusive sales rights for succinic acid-based resins in Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan. Sojitz said it plans to set up a commercial biobased derivativese plant that will consume 150m pounds/year of Myriant's biobased succinic acid. The facility is expected to start in 2015.
• In related news, Myriant has partnered with Japan-based Showa Denko in January this year for the production of polybutylene succinate (PBS) resins using Myriant's bio-based succinic acid.

I've even wrote an article about this topic on ICB in October 2011. In this article, I've mentioned renewable chemical activities from Mitsubishi Chemical Company (MCC), Mitsui, Kuraray, Toyota Tsusho, Teijin and Toray.

Biobased isobutanol updates

US bio-butanol producers Gevo and Butamax have been very busy churning out press releases while I was away, and the blog received another two from Gevo this morning.  

Gevo announced today that it has partnered with Italy-based Beta Renewables to develop an integrated process for the production of cellulosic-based isobutanol.

The project would combine Beta's PROESA technology (focusing on cellulosic feedstock pretreatment), Gevo's GIFT process (focusing on isobutanol manufacture via fermentation), and ATJ technologies (I am still trying to figure this one out and has asked Gevo for a background on this technology).

Gevo and Beta Renewables are said to be evaluating future opportunities to partner on other US and international projects with a long-term goal of developing a licensable package for future third parties.

Speaking of cellulosic isobutanol, the blog mentioned last month of Gevo's intent to manufacture the product in Southeast Asia as the company has signed a collaborative agreement with Malaysia's BiotechCorp and East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) to build a plant at a biorefinery complex in Kertih, Terengganu.

Gevo's plan is to have a cellulosic isobutanol plant in operation by late 2015 or early 2016.

Another announcement from Gevo today is their progress on the newly-started 18m gal/year bio-isobutanol plant in Luverne, Minnesota. The company said it was able to successfully ferment isobutanol in large 250,000 gal commercial fermenters, and transport it in tanks and railcars.

Some of the initial isobutanol produced will be shipped to customers such as Sasol. Gevo said it plans to be in the start-up/learning mode of operations for most of 2012.

By the way, the production in Luverne was almost jeopardized last month when rival Butamax filed a preliminary injunction request to bar Gevo from operating the plant and selling bio-isobutanol produced from the plant because of ongoing patent disputes. The District Court of Delaware denied the request on June 20.

Butamax released a statement saying that the company plans an immediate appeal to the court's decision. Yesterday, a judge has issued a temporary order restraining Gevo to supply the automotive fuel blendstock market with its bio-isobutanol from Luverne during Butamax's appeal process.

Gevo said yesterday that it has filed an appeal regarding the order and testing for automobile fuels will continue but with non-biobased isobutanol. The company said it is still free to operate in markets such as chemicals, jet fuel, marine fuel, small engine fuel and all other markets.

Other recent news from Gevo and Butamax on bio-isobutanol:

• Butamax Early Adopters Group surpasses capacity targets with addition of Big River. Membership represents 11 production facilities and nearly 900 million gallons of ethanol capacity

• The US Air Force successfully flew an A-10 Thunder Bolt jet aircraft powered by Gevo's alcohol to jet fuel blended with JP-8.

• Gevo and BioFuel Energy collaborates to explore large-scale isobutanol production

Solazyme production milestones

 Algae-based chemicals producer Solazyme announced two production milestones last week: a successful commissioning of its fully-integrated biorefinery in Peoria, Illinois, US; and the start of construction of its Brazilian biorefinery under the Bunge-Solazyme joint venture.

 

The Peoria facility's 128,000-liter fermentation operation has been up and running since the fourth quarter of 2011 producing algal oils, but Solazyme said the facility has now been able to demonstrate commercial-scale production of algal-based fuels.

"The demonstration/ commercial-scale plant will have a nameplate capacity of 2m liters/year of oil and will provide an important platform for continued work on feedstock flexibility and scaling of new tailored oils into the marketplace." - Solazyme

The biorefinery was partially funded with a grant from the US Department of Energy to demonstrate commercial-scale production of renewable algal-based fuels, according to Solazyme.

In Brazil, Solazyme and its JV partner Bunge Global Innovation have broken ground on a 100,000 tonne/year algal oil production facility adjacent to Bunge's Moema sugarcane mill.

Startup of the plant is expected in the fourth quarter of 2013. The facility will operate under Solazyme Bunge Produtos Renovaveis Ltda. The plant is expected to cost between $90m-$110m to build.

According to a presentation from Solazyme at the ICIS World Surfactants Conference held in New Jersey in late April, the company plans to introduce its lauric oils derived from algae in 2013. The algae-based lauric oils can replace lauric oils derived from palm kernel oil or coconut oil.

Solazyme can modify the fatty acid composition and saturation of its genetically engineered algae oils to produce lauric acid contents greater than 80%. The company estimates the market for palm kernel oil at $9.3bn (€7.1bn) and coconut oil at $5.3bn as of 2011.

Glycerin-based PG plant in Europe

Greetings green blog fans! I am still fighting off jetlag but there had been soooo many news within the past two weeks that I have a lot of catching up to do before going on another 1-week vacation (my final one this year) starting July 20.

Let me start with a favorite topic of mine - glycerin. I have been covering the glycerin market since September 2000 when I first started as staff editor at Chemical Market Reporter (the magazine now evolved into ICIS Chemical Business).

Since then, I've reported numerous times on how this industry has constantly been looking for new applications for glycerin given that this is a plentiful byproduct of oleochemical and biodiesel manufacture. It is only after a decade that some of the new uses that I've reported in the past have now come into large commercialization such as in glycerin-based epichlorohydrin (ECH) and propylene glycol (PG).

Last week, Belgium-based oleochemical company Oleon announced that it has started up its new 20,000+ tonnes/year glycerin-based PG in Ertvelde using a former fatty alcohol plant. The production process has been developed and licensed by BASF in collaboration with Oleon. BASF also supplies the catalysts for the bio-based PG process.

Official commissioning of the new bio-PG plant in Ertvelde, Belgium

PG has historically been produced by hydrolysis using propylene oxide. BASF's glycerin-based process is said to have fewer production steps. Annual global PG market exceeds 2m tonnes, according to Oleon.

PG is used in products such as antifreeze, de-icing, unsaturated polyester resins, detergents and cosmetics.

In the US, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) started its 100,000 tonnes/year glycerin-based PG in Decatur, Illinois, last year, producing USP grade and industrial-grade PG. ADM also has the capability to manufacture PG from sorbitol, a corn-derived sugar alcohol.

The blog recalled in the past that Huntsman and Dow Chemical also had plans to make glycerin-based PG. Both chemical companies as well as Arch Chemical and Lyondell are major petroleum-based PG producers.

According to ICIS, market participants in North America expected about 2,268 tonnes of refined glycerin will be used in the glycol market this year.