Green Chemicals

I received an email from enzyme producer Danisco announcing the start-up of one of the world's first and largest cellulosic ethanol demonstration biorefineries located in Kalundborg, Denmark.

The facility is a joint venture of DONG Energy and Inbicon. Danisco's enzyme business, Genencor, supplies the Accellerase© enzymes, which are used to convert the feedstock straw to ethanol (for E85 fuel use).

The facility is expected to use 30,000 tonnes/year of straw to produce 5.4 million litres of bioethanol (1.5 million gallons); 13,000 tonnes of lignin pellets; and 11,100 tonnes C5 molasses. DONG Energy said the bio pellets can be used as fuel at CPH plants, and the C5 molasses can be used for animal feed and other purposes.

"Our bioethanol plant will demonstrate that we are capable of producing so-called second generation bioethanol on the basis of waste products. If our technology is well received by the global markets, new opportunities of export will evolve", said Anders Eldrup, CEO of DONG Energy.

Here's an unedited clip of the plant's inauguration: (see how much straw they need?!?!)

It's always nice to hear our tax money going to something (hopefully) useful.

This one is a $24m grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) being given to companies that are develop technologies to produce biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products using biomass as feedstock.

The awardees must contribute a minimum of 20% of matching funds for R&D projects and 50% of matching funds for demonstration projects. For biobased products and biofuels development, companies selected include GE Global Research, Gevo, Itaconix, Yenkin-Majestic Paint Corporation, and Velocys.

Gevo, which was awarded $1.8m, said that this grant will help fund ongoing development of its yeast strain to produce biobutanol from cellulosic biomass. The company started up its biobutanol demonstration plant - said to be the first in the world, last September. The facility was designed from retrofitting an existing demonstration scale ethanol plant to produce biobutanol.

Itaconix, meanwhile, aims to produce green polymers from itaconic acid fermented with sugars extracted from hardwood biomass. Their product polyitaconic acid is a water soluble polymer, said to have a 2 million ton/year market potential as a replacement for petrochemical dispersants, detergents, and super-absorbents.

Other awardees include Exelus, which aims to develop a Biomass-to-Gasoline (BTG) technology; and universities such as University of Tennessee (working on switchgrass), Oklahoma State University, University of Minnesota, and Purdue University.

Energy crop company Ceres also won a separate grant ($5m) from the DOE to develop high-yielding, low-input energy grasses. The company aims to expand an advanced trait development project to increase biomass yields of several energy grasses by as much as 40%, and at the same time decreasing the use of inputs such as nitrogen fertilizers.

This "amazing grass" could displace 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 58 million tons of coal over a ten year period, according to Ceres.

I guess this is the week of big green chemistry news. Love it!

Aside from the Rivertop Renewables and Elevance news, here's another one from Zeachem, who announced yesterday about their new semi works scale cellulosic biorefinery being constructed in Colorado. The facility will have capacity to produce 250,000 gallons of biofuel per year using the company's naturally occurring bacteria, called an acetogen.

The company is working with Hazen Research, Inc. of Golden, Colorado to construct the critical first step of the biorefinery fermentation process. Zeachem says its hybrid biorefinery platform based on biochemical and thermochemical processing can produce ethanol fuel and intermediate chemicals using flexible feedstock.

ZeaChem intends in 2013 to scale to a commercial biorefinery of around 25m gal/year in Boardman, Oregon, upon successful operations at the semi-works scale facility.

For more information on Zeachem's project:

Thanks to the Green Underworld Reporter for sending this information about Elevance Renewable Sciences in a proposed joint venture with biodiesel producer Renewable Energy Group (REG) to build a 2.6m gallon/year demo-scale integrated biorefinery in Newton, Iowa.

In an application filed by Elevance late last month to the Iowa Dept. of Economic Development (IDED) for funding assistance, the company said the proposed biorefinery will convert renewable raw materials primarily sourced from Iowa such as soybean oil, ethanol DDG corn oil, animal fats, algae oil and other emerging oils, into olefins, fuels and specialty chemicals.

About 15-16 million pounds/year of vegetable oil feedstock could be used to operate the proposed facility at 90% capacity. According to Elevance, success of the demo plant will enable the company to retrofit existing biodiesel facilities in Iowa with a fully diversified biorefinery.

REG is expected to provide their existing biodiesel production plant in Newton for the biorefinery location as well as provide their experiences in raw material sourcing/transportation/handling, and in constructing novel, continuous flow operating systems.

REG's experience in fuel and glycerin marketing and logistics will also come in handy, the company said.

Elevance is seeking $800,000 in financial assistance from the IDED and another $2.67 million from the Iowa Power Fund to contribute to the $8.7m estimated cost of the project through 2011. The rest will be funded by the company.

According to the filing, the project is estimated to create around 40-60 full time jobs in 2010 for engineering construction, site preparation and installation. The project will create 7 permanent jobs when the biorefinery starts around 4th quarter of 2010. Full operating capacity is expected in 2012.

Elevance said the company is actively considering locations outside Iowa such as Illinois, Washinigton, Texas and Louisiana, if the project will not proceed in Iowa.

Here's another green chemistry company start-up to add to my list.

I received an email about Missoula, Montana-based Rivertop Renewables who is developing glucaric acid, a sugar-based acid created by oxidizing glucose which can be used as a building block chemical.

According to the company, the US Department of Energy recognized glucaric acid as one of the top "twelve building block chemicals" that can be subsequently converted to a number of high-value bio-based chemicals or materials.

The markets for glucaric acid derivatives such as glucarates and lactones are said to be undeveloped as they are expensive and the supply has been limited, with most being use for research or as a health supplement ingredient.

Rivertop Renewables said that they were able to develop a scalable, cost-effective and safe glucaric acid production technology based on 10 years of research that started at the University of Montana. Early markets for their product include, among others, detergents (as a builder to replace phosphates), diapers (increasing its biodegradability), road salt deicers (as corrosion inhibitors); and as concrete admixtures.

The company says replacing phosphates in detergents alone represents a $9 billion market opportunity.To produce the acid, the company is using a proprietary oxidation technology.

"We refined the oxidation of nitric acid into a catalytic process that reduces the amount of needed nitric acid, minimizes the production of waste, and increases the yield of valuable end-use products," says Don Kiely founder and chairman. "The oxidation platform is adaptable to feedstocks beyond glucose such as sucrose and xylose."

The company is in the midst of their first round of funding of $1.4 million, and said to be in talks with major manufacturers that can make and distribute their chemicals at low cost.

My colleague Simon Robinson noted the increasing hits on ICB's bisphenol-A (BPA) chemical profile online, which was published last year in October. Last week, it generated over 1300 hits. Barbara Ortner, another colleague and author of the Chemicals Confidential blog, dubbed BPA as the current most hated chemical as it is constantly splashed through the news from various studies indicating it's health/environmental risks (or lack thereof from counter studies).

Here are some of the recent ones that came out on the news as well as comments from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) on these findings:

• Consumer Reports Study Detected BPA in Some Canned Foods (see ACC comment)
  

• An investigation from Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), American Nurses Association (ANA) and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) revealed that the chemicals BPA, phthalates, PBDEs and PFCs are found in the bodies of health care professionals who participated in the study.(see ACC comment)
  

• High levels of workplace exposure to BPA may increase the risk of reduced sexual function in men, according to a Kaiser Permanente study. (see ACC comment)
  

• A study from the National Institute of Health Sciences (NIEHS) found a link between maternal exposure to BPA in early pregnancy and the behaviour of female children up to the age of two years. (see ACC comment)
  
  

The ACC noted that the researchers of this study acknowledged that their results are not straightforward.

"It appears that the researchers selectively excluded data, eliminating certain subjects from the analysis, in order to strengthen their conclusion. Even the phraseology of the paper is more sensationalistic than scientific." - ACC

Here are last week's news in no particular order. I will put a separate post about the DOE's biomass grant announced last week.

More money for Metabolix
Bioplastic developer Metabolix has completed its public offering of 3,450,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $9.00 per share for gross proceeds of $31 million. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

Recycled plastic bridges
Axion International Holdings completed its $957,000 contract for the construction of two railroad bridges designed from nearly 100% recycled plastics. The US Army has commissioned each of these bridges to be built at Fort Eustis, Virginia.

Carpet fiber eco-certified
Invista said it is the first company to obtain Environmentally Preferable Product (EPP) certification for its carpet fibers under a new, expanded standard by third-party certification company Scientific Certification Systems (SCS).

Biomass fuel plant approved
renewaFUEL LLC plans to construct and operate its next-generation biomass fuel production facility at the Telkite Technology Park near Marquette, Michigan. The plant will produce 150,000 tons/year of high-energy, low-emission biofuel cubes, a composite of collected wood and agricultural feedstocks supplied from local farmers and loggers for the facility.

GE's biggest wind service deal
GE and E.ON Climate & Renewables North America signed a 7-year operation and maintenance agreement covering EC&R's complete fleet of 529 GE wind turbines installed in the United States. The O&M deal is one of the largest wind services agreements ever signed by GE.

And in ICIS news (requires subscription):
Bioplastics' share of auto sector to increase, a consultant with BeOne Hamburg reported.

French chemical maker Arkema forecast that 10% of its sales will come from renewable resources.

Producing biodiesel from sugarcane is less than five years away from becoming commercially viable, as illustrated by two US companies.

It looks like chemical companies are in full swing promoting numerous green projects and products. We recently posted news from Dow Chemical, Honeywell, Clariant, Eastman, Teijin, Arkema... and now here's from BASF.

The company is formally launching on Wednesday its new zero-emission Acrodur® acrylic thermosets for automotive applications. The new acrylics are thermally cross-linkable, said to be free of formaldehyde and other emissions, and offer new routes to innovative composite materials.

With the product, natural-based fibers such as wood, flax, hemp or sisal can be resinated in different ways for used in the production of shaped panels for automobile interiors. Kettering University, which released the news, said that the green acrylic can provide a great variety of other natural and man-made fibers of the nonwoven industry or even granulated materials, which can be bonded with the new binder system.

Here's a video from Eastman Chemical promoting its Tritan copolyester for BPA-free baby bottles under the Weil Brand. Eastman said the bottles are also designed as anti-colic because of its unique venting system.

Another interesting news from Eastman is that it recently expanded its bulk storage capacity in the European Union (EU) for its non-phthalate plasticizers Eastman™ 168 and Eastman™ DBT. The company said demand for non-phthalate plasticizers in Europe has been increasing, and that customers need the reliability and quick availability of large quantities of local supply.

Coca-Cola announced today that its 500mL and 2L size Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light and Coca-Cola Zero are now available in the PlantBottle packaging throughout Denmark. Western Canada will receive their green-bottled Cokes as well as Dasani water, Sprite and Fresca beginning December, while the Western side of the US including Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, will have their turn in January.

Other market launches will soon follow next year. The company plans to produce 2 billion of the PlantBottle PET plastic bottles by the end of 2010.

Somebody asked me before what type of plant-based materials Coca Cola is using in this packaging. Well, the company finally revealed that up to 30% of the PlantBottle's packaging is made from plastic derived from sugar cane and molasses produced in Brazil. Coca-Cola emphasized that the sugar cane used in this process are from rain-fed crops specifically for ethanol used and not for refined sugar (they definitely don't want to hear any uproar about food vs plastic use).

Coca-Cola said its goal is to use non-food, plant-based waste such as wood chips, wheat stalks, etc., to produce their recyclable PET plastic bottles.

In Denmark, the PlantBottle packaging is made of 15% plant-based material and 50% recycled PET, while in the US and Canada, up to 30% of the PET plastic used comes from plants.