Italy’s Novamont considers bio-BDO project in Porto Torres

24 January 2012 16:58  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--Italian bioplastics producer Novamont is considering building a second bio-butanediol (BDO) project in Porto Torres, Italy, CEO Catia Bastioli said on Tuesday.

The project, if approved, will be based on Genomatica’s single-step BDO technology and could have a capacity of approximately 40,000 tonnes/year, she said.

Novamont revealed last week that it was proceeding with its first bio-BDO project, a joint venture with US-based biotechnology company Genomatica, in Adria, Italy. Novamont will have an 80% stake in the Adria project, which involves converting an existing facility.

The second project will be built in Porto Torres, where Novamont is developing a major bio-refinery project in partnership with Italian petrochemicals producer Polimeri Europa, Bastioli said.

The Porto Torres project is likely to be double the size of the approximately 20,000 tonne/year Adria project, she said.

A decision on whether to go ahead with the Porto Torres project is expected in 2013. Timing of the project would depend on demand growth for Novamont’s Mater-Bi biopolymers, said Bastioli.

“It will be built in line with the growth of our bioplastics demand,” she remarked. Demand for Novamont’s biopolymers has been growing by 20-30% per year in recent years and is expected to continue growing at these rates, she added.

Novamont has the capacity to produce approximately 120,000 tonnes/year of Mater-Bi biopolymers in Terni, Italy. It has the combined capacity to produce 70,000 tonnes/year of Origo-Bi biopolymers, used to make the Mater-Bi grades, across the Terni site and at a second site near Terni.

By: Anna Jagger
+44 20 8652 3214

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