ACS-BIO ’04: Cargill to have 2 new chem alliances in ‘05

28 October 2004 22:20  [Source: ICIS news]

McLEAN, Virginia (CNI)--Cargill said Thursday it expects to announce at least two major alliances next year with mainstream chemical manufacturers for production of large-volume biomass-based chemical products.

 

James Stoppert, senior director for industrial bio-products at Cargill, told CNI here today that his firm is in ongoing discussions with an unspecified number of major chemicals firms toward joint ventures or other alliances for biomass chemical manufacturing.

 

He said that he expects at least two of those developing alliances to come to fruition in the new year, and that announcements will be made then.

 

He declined to identify any of the chemical companies involved, and neither would he identify the specific nature of chemical products to be manufactured by the developing biomass alliances.

 

But he said that, in general, Cargill is looking at partnerships with chemical producers in specialty chemicals rather than in basic industrial chemicals.  Even though the coming projects likely will be in specialty chemicals, he said, the projects will nonetheless involve large volume operations and each will be expected to generate sales of at least $100m (Euro80m) annually when at capacity.

 

“These projects will require a significant investment,” Stoppert told CNI, “so we want the payoff to be significant as well.”

 

He said the ongoing discussions with chemical companies grew out of the public invitation Cargill made in February 2003 for chemical firms to approach Cargill on possible partnerships to accelerate development of specialty chemicals, polymers and other industrial products from biomass-based technologies.

 

He said Cargill received some initial responses to that appeal, but the number of discussions has gradually increased, he said, as the chemicals industry began to see some recovery.  “Now they’re looking for growth opportunities,” he said, “and we’re talking with more chemicals firms now than at first” after the February 2003 appeal.

 

Stoppert spoke with CNI on the sidelines of the second annual ACS-BIO CTO conference here.  Co-sponsored by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the conference brings together some 80 chief technical officers (CTOs) and other top executives of leading biotech and chemical companies. 

 

In a speech to the CTO conference, Stoppert said that rising costs for oil and natural gas will drive chemicals manufacturers increasingly to biomass-based production.  The CTO conference runs through tomorrow.

 

Based in Washington, DC, BIO represents some 1200 biotech firms worldwide.  ACS also is based in Washington and has nearly 160 000 individual members in the chemicals industry globally.

 

Cargill, based in Wayzata, Minnesota, is the largest, privately-held US corporation.  It is a leading grains producer and has interests in feed and fertiliser production, steel making, petroleum, financial trading and other businesses.  It has annual sales in excess of $50bn.

By: Joe Kamalick
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