BioAmber, Mitsui to proceed with biosuccinic acid project in Canada

08 November 2011 15:31  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS)--US renewable chemicals firm BioAmber and Japan's Mitsui & Co are proceeding with their planned 17,000 tonne/year bio-based succinic acid project at the Sarnia petrochemicals hub in southern Ontario, Canada, they said on Tuesday.

BioAmber and Mitsui expect the project, which was announced in August, to be in commercial production in 2013.

The plant's capacity will subsequently be expanded to 35,000 tonnes/year of succinic acid. In addition, the partners plan to produce 23,000 tonnes/year of 1,4 butanediol (BDO) at the Sarnia site, they said. 

The companies are also planning two additional projects that will raise their total capacities to 165,000 tonnes/year of succinic acid and 123,000 tonnes/year of BDO, they said. 

One of those projects is planned for Thailand, and the other may be built either in North America or Brazil, they said.

"Our goal is to play a leading role in the growth of renewable chemicals, as evidenced by our recent joint ventures with BioAmber in North America for biosuccinic acid and Dow Chemical in Brazil for biochemicals," said Masanori Ikebe, general manager of Mitsui's specialty chemicals division. 

Financial details were not disclosed.

Check out Doris de Guzman’s Green Chemicals Blog for views on sustainability issues

By: Stefan Baumgarten
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