Now that I've filed my Energy Efficiency article for ICIS Chemical Business (watch out for that on August 17 issue!), I can now go back to blogging about my post coverage of last week's BIO World Congress on Industrial and Biotechnology conference in Montreal, Canada.
As previously mentioned in my last post, there seems to be a lot of anticipation brewing for the commercialization of the chemical building block bio-succinic acid. According to DSM's Will van den Tweel (business manager Bio-Based Chemicals and Fuels for DSM White Biotechnology), the US Dept. of Energy identified succinic acid as one of the best targets to develop through fermentation.
DNP Green Technology president Jean-Francois Huc cited a recent Frost & Sullivan consulting report stating that succinic acid, lactic acid, 1,3 propanediol and glycerol as the top 4 platform molecules renewable chemistry.
BIO AMBER:
Let's start with DNP's presentation, which has a joint venture company called Bio amber with French R&D company ARD. Bio amber will start in October its 2,000 tonne/year bio-succinic acid demo plant in Pomacle, France. DNP believes it will be the first to market bio-succinic acid and looking to start building a large-scale commercial plant by 2011.
Talks are ongoing between Bio amber and 50 companies to test and develop succinic acid derivatives in applications such as polyurethanes, polyesters, PBS, deicers, plasticizers and oxygenates."We are no longer a development program and our risk is operational, not technological," said Huc. "We are preparing an engineering process package for a commercial plant (succinic acid and deicer fluid) and expect to sell a first license in 2009."
"Partnerships are already in place for the use of potassium succinate in liquid deicers and solid deicers; succinate esters for plasticizers, 1,4 BDO and fuel oxygenates; and succinic acid for polyurethanes and biopolymers," said Huc.He added that they are currently in discussion for potential partnership in the use of succinate esters for solvents.
Myriant:
Quincy, Massachusetts-based Myriant Technologies, a subsidiary of
BioEnergy International, recently announced that it has successfully
piloted its starch sugar-based succinic acid and plans to produce
ton-sized samples in fourth quarter of 2009 for its customers to verify
product specifications and quality.
Saleh said their succinic acid is using the same organism platform as for their D-lactic acid, which the company started producing in Spain in partnership with Purac late last year."Our first generation feedstock is starch but a cellulosic succinic acid is already under development with a pilot scale plant already under construction," said Myriant specialty chemicals director Alif Saleh. "We are hoping to have a commercial production by the second half of 2010."
Target applications for their succinic acid include butanediol (with current market estimated at 2bn lbs), adipic acid (6 bn lbs), biodegradable polymers and other drop-in applications (70m lbs).
DSM/ROQUETTE:
Not
much new information was gleaned from DSM's presentation (including
what type of feedstock and bacteria used in their fermentation) but the
company did say that they're hoping to start building their first
commercialized succinic acid production by 2011 and their second by
2013.
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