ICIS Green Chemicals

Cellulosic biomass technology developer GraalBio is planning to help build Brazil's biorefinery industry with a R$300m ($146m) investment of a new 22m gallons/year cellulosic ethanol plant to be constructed in Alagoas using sugarcane bagasse and straw for initial feedstock.

GraalBio is also developing a new type of cost-competitive biomass called Energy Cane, a cross hybrid of sugarcane varieties with selected types of grasses producing low sugar content but high fiber. An experimental site in Alagoas is expected to produce 100,000 Energy Cane seedlings by the end of the year. The company is hoping to achieve productivity target of 100 tons of dry mass/hectare.

GraalBio said the cellulosic ethanol facility will be Brazil's first. Construction is expected to start in July and start-up of operations is expected by the end of 2013. For pretreatment and conversion of biomass, GraalBio has licensed the PROESA technology from Italy-based Beta Renewables - a joint venture between Chemtex (a division of Italian plastic producer Gruppo Mossi & Ghisolfi) and investment firm TPG.

Chemtex will provide engineering services, equipment and technical field services to GraalBio's facility. Dutch firms Novozymes and DSM will provide the enzymes and industrial yeasts, respectively.

By the way, Novozymes said it has been looking for locations in Brazil to build its new enzyme manufacturing plants dedicated to support the country's growing advanced biofuel industry.

"The location of new plants will, among other things, depend on where the industry is expected to scale up, where Novozymes' partners are located, and where the best framework conditions exist," says Peder Holk Nielsen, Novozymes VP.

"While the maturity of second-generation biofuels technologies in Brazil is materializing, the U.S. is building 29 biorefineries for several products obtained from the conversion of cellulose. GraalBio is in negotiations with patent holders to license, purchase and apply industrial solutions in Brazil, and it will look for partners in Brazil in different areas, including co-development, supply of feedstock and new projects." - GraalBio

The green blog was a bit concern for a while on the status of Braskem's green poplypropylene (PP) project when news of management shake-up within Braskem reached ICIS news desk a couple of weeks ago.

However, I saw this article from BusinessGreen.com dated May 8 talking about Braskem pushing through its $100m sugarcane ethanol-based PP plan with a new 30,000 tonne/year facility in Rio Grande do Sul near Porto Alegre, southern Brazil. The facility, which will be alongside Braskem's 200,000 tonne/year Green PE plant, is expected to be completed in 2013.

According to the article, Braskem's current Green PE customers such as Toyota, Tetra Pak, and Danone, have already lined up for Green PP.

Another recent news from Braskem is its recent collaboration with Australia-based Plantic Technologies where it plans to use Braskem's Green PE for its  corn starch-based ecoPlastic branded products such as trays and films.

Braskem said the use of Green PE will increase the renewable content of ecoPlastic to more than 90% without compromising barrier properties already offered by the packaging.

Here is my (semi)weekly news roundup which has been stewing for a while in my draft box. School is over for now and I'm glad to announce that I am moving on to the next semester. Hopefully, this summer will be more productive for the blog.

FMC launches environmental unit
FMC Corp. has launched FMC Environmental Solutions, a new division that integrates the company's portfolio of products that prevent or remediate contamination of air, soil and water. The division has three business units: Air Pollution Control focusing on the use hydrogen peroxide, trona and sodium bicarbonate; Soil and Groundwater Remediation business focusing on fast-acting chemistries for remediation of normal and halogenated organics and metals; and Water Treatment.

Blue Marble Biomaterials gets certified
Blue Marble Biomaterials' natural flavor and fragrance facility in Missoula, Montana, is now fully kosher certified and food-grade compliant. The company has been working with SAFC since 2010 to achieve food grade documentation and quality control features. Blue Marble Biomaterials currently produces natural ester, thioester and extract products via fermentation process.

Eastman, Rubbermaid team up
Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP) and Eastman have collaborated on bisphenol A (BPA)-free foodservice plastic products using Eastman's Tritan copolyester. The products were previously made from polycarbonate. RCP's new BPA-free products under categories Ingredient Management, Food pans/boxes/square containers, PROSERVE line of products, and ProSave line of products are available through foodservice and broadline distributors.

Evolva expands collaborates with IFF
Evolva Holding SA expanded its collaboration with International Flavors & Fragrances on developing a commercially viable biosynthetic route for the production of a key flavouring ingredient. The project started early last year and is said to be progressing on schedule. The collaboration is now expanded to include an additional flavouring ingredient.

Amyris and Ceres on sweet sorghum diesel
Amyris has successfully processed Ceres' improved sweet sorghum hybrids into renewable diesel under a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant. The pilot-scale project held at the DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Colorado pilot-scale biochemical conversion facility evaluated both sugars and biomass from Ceres' sweet sorghum hybrids grown in Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana and Tennessee. Ceres first commercialized its improved hybrids in Brazil this season.

TMO produces ethanol from Chinese cassava stalk
TMO Renewables is now processing an initial shipment of cassava stalk delivered from China to produce bioethanol. Improved efficiencies at TMO's 12,000 sq. ft. demonstration facility in Surrey, England, are projected to produce ethanol for less than $2/gal, marking a crucial step toward commercialization. TMO's conversion process will reportedly yield 70 to 80 gallons of second generation ethanol per ton of feedstock.

Origin Oil collaborates with PACE in oilfield
Algae developer Origin Oil will collaborate with California-based PACE with oil field operators in Texas and elsewhere to improve petroleum recovery and water cleaning for re-use at well sites, using a process originally developed for algae harvesting. OriginOil plans to provide the equipment and capability to process up to one barrel per minute in continuous flow.

...and with Algasol in biofuels
Origin Oil and biofuel developer Algasol Renewables have partnered on the development of an integrated algae growth and harvesting system to achieve new levels of cost and performance in microalgae cultivation for biofuels and high value products. Algasol's patented system focuses on how to grow algae in floating bags, and Origini Oil said their testing has indicated this can be much more efficient than other cultivation methods.

OakBio partners with Lehigh on CO2 capture
Cement producer Lehigh Permanente and Oakbio formed a partnership based on a CO2 capture technology that can convert greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into valuable products. The Oakbio process involves microbial capture of CO2. The companies plan to conduct research scale studies going forward

University of Minnesota's new startup
The University of Minnesota has launched a startup called Heat Mining Company LLC that will use sequestered carbon dioxide rather than water to extract heat from deep underground and use this thermal energy to generate electricity. CO2 Plume Geothermal (CPGTM) technology is said to be an attractive solution for conventional fossil-fueled power plants. The University of Minnesota submitted the technology for patents in March 2009 and licensed it exclusively, worldwide to Heat Mining Company LLC through the Office for Technology Commercialization.

And in ICIS News (requires subscription):
Cefic releases sustainability report for Europe chems industry:

Biochems must be cost-competitive to enter mainstream - consultant

Shale gas positive for economy but damaging to green solutions

APIC '12: Renewable chemicals a major opportunity for Asia

APIC '12: Ethanol food vs fuel debate spills into renewable chemicals

APIC '12: Green revolution key megatrend for petrochemicals

By Sam Nejame, Promotum

Just an aside on comparative valuation. Isn't it a little strange, that a company which monetizes the social habits of teenage girls (Hello Facebook!), is more valuable than the future of food, materials and energy?

Without exaggeration almost everything we touch, wear, eat, drive etc. depends on chemicals and fuels. Yet, right now the market capitalization of the entire publicly traded sector for renewable fuels and chemicals is ~$2.5B (not including corporate subsidiaries, ethanol, sugar, etc.).

Facebook of course priced last week ~$100B (and falling). That's not quite in the league of ExxonMobil, but it's close to British Petroleum, and right there with the combined value of Dow Chemical ($39B), DuPont ($48B) and Archer Daniels Midland ($22B).

Does this make any sense? If Facebook disappeared tomorrow the world would go on. If petroleum disappeared tomorrow would there even be an economy?

The green blogger is out of service this week. Good luck to me!

As mentioned in the previous post, Metabolix management seems to be handling the company well after the Telles joint venture break-up with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) early this year.

Before its first quarter 2012 earnings was announced on April 26 , the company has been putting out several press releases below:

• Metabolix Awarded Two U.S. Patents for Technology to Produce Biobased Polymers and Industrial Chemicals
• Metabolix and Ball Horticultural and Floral Plant Growers Launch New Mirel-based SoilWrap Biodegradable Plant Container
• Metabolix Opens First European Office

Other milestones included pilot-scale (up to 60,000 liter or 15,000 gallon) production of C4 chemical specifically GBL (gamma butyrolactone) and lab-scale biobased acrylic acid. GBL by the way is an intermediate to producing butanediol (BDO).

"In the first quarter we produced densified biomass polylactic acid, a key C3 chemical and we expect to sample it to perspective customers beginning in the second quarter. The sampling process is a key step along the path toward securing industry partnerships." - Metabolix

Metabolix said it expects to end 2012 with a cash and investment balance of $48m-50m. However, the company is expecting further restructuring such as reduced head count and consolidation of its two facilities in Massachusetts.

Still, Jefferies & Company analyst Laurence Alexander lowered its price target for Metabolix from $3.50 to $3.15/share stating that the company's specific plans on production timing are still unclear.

"Apart from goals of $48-$50m in cash on hand at year-end and entering 2013 with a cash burn of ~$24m, Metabolix remains wary of giving sufficient financial details to assess the relative importance of the different announcements. We expect the shares to remain range-bound until the announcements have more context--either directly, through financial disclosures, or indirectly, through partnerships that provide some sketch of a framework for Metabolix's ability to capture value created by its unique technology positions."

I noticed the blog has been receiving a lot of notices on personnel changes within the renewable chemicals sector this year and the most recent one is Amyris' top management team announced yesterday.

According to Amyris, three of its management team - the president of global operations Mario Portela,  VP general counsel and corporate secretary Tamara Tompkins, and CTO Neil Renninger -- will be departing from the company, although Renninger will remain as member of the board of directors.

Biofuel Digest's Jim Lane has a very interesting article today about the Amyris announcement.Will the management reshuffling calm investors' fears (after Amyris' stock plunge 90% this year since its IPO) or is Amyris' problems really rooted on the company's inability to execute technology fast enough? In the article, a Wall Street analyst noted that bankruptcy could even be a realistic scenario.

2012 could certainly become a very challenging year for green chems.  Amyris will announce its first quarter results on May 8, and we will see how their investors will respond to this latest company news.

On the bright side, we can look at Metabolix and Codexis, which had its own management reshuffling done, and both companies seem to be doing good at placating investor fears at the moment.

Codexis, of course, is still looking for its next CEO after Alan Shaw stepped down in February. The company's CFO Robert Lawson also departed in January. The company has been busy promoting its enzymes and its first renewable chem product - Codexol fatty alcohol. Codexis also recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary since it was first founded as a biotechnology firm focusing on pharmaceutical intermediates.

Codexis will announce its first quarter result on May 10.

Metabolix, seemed to have rebounded fast enough after the company lost its production source when its Telles joint venture with Archer Daniels Midland broke up in January. According to the company's 1Q 2012 earnings result announced on April 26, Metabolix expects to end 2012 with a cash and investment balance of $48m-50m. The company currently have more than 5m lbs of PHA product inventory available and said that it is in advanced discussions with prospective manufacturing and commercialization partners.

I will write more about Metabolix's recent activities (which has been a lot) in another post. In the meantime, the company just announced the promotion of its director of strategy and commercial development Max Senechal to VP of biobased chemicals, as Codexis advances its chemicals development. Metabolix also appointed Matthew Strobeck as part of its board of directors in March, and Lynne Brum as VP of marketing and communications in January.

Speaking of (ADM), the company recently announced the hiring of Kyle James to be its general manager of Glycols. James has recently served as business process commercial manager, Industrial Chemicals, and vice president of Telles. Prior to this role, he also served as vice president, ethanol sales at ADM.

James will oversee ADM's commercial operations of its glycols business including sales of propylene glycol, glycerin, and co-product streams as well as be responsible for feedstock sourcing and supply chain/distribution for the glycols business.

Another recent big management shuffle is from  DuPont Industrial Biosciences where VP of marketing and sales Tjerk de Ruiter has resigned "to pursue other opportunities." De Ruiter, who was the former CEO of Genencor, joined DuPont Industrial Biosciences in May 2011 following DuPont's acquisition of Danisco and its Genencor division.

The blog is betting we will see De Ruiter again in one of our regularly covered renewable chemical companies. Stay tune! No, we don't have any inside information, it just seems like this is what has been happening in the industry lately.

DuPont has also appointed Todd Sutton this month to be the president of DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products, which produces biobased propanediol (1,3 PDO) in Loudon, Tennessee.

Other management changes happening in the past 6 months include:

• Zeachem just appointed this week its new CFO Peter Cheesbrough to replace Andy Vietor, who will remain with the company as VP of Finance. Late last year, Zeachem also added three board members - Nancy Buese of MarkWest Energy Partners, Ross Pilari of CVC Capital Partners, and Charles Shaver of TPC Group.

• Myriant appointed William Wells and Dhanes Charoensupaya to the company's board of directors in March, and Norman Augustine in October. The company also announced in January that BASF veteran Werner Praetorius has joined its strategic advisory board, and Susan Hager, formerly of Qteros, is now Myriant's VP of communications and government affairs.

• Genomatica appoints Jeff Lievense as Executive Vice President, Process Technology

• Gevo appoints Ruth Dreessen, Managing Director of Lion Chemical Capital, LLC, to the Board of Directors