April 2011 Archives

Cereplast announced last week the launch of its new bioplastic symbol, which came from a graphic design student at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, -- the winner of Cereplast's "Make Your Mark" competition.

The new bioplastic symbol will be stamped on products made from Cereplast's bioplastic, which will serve as an identifying mark of bioplastic material. The goal, according to Cereplast, is to help consumers identify products and packaging made from bioplastics much like the current recycling symbol seen on recycled and recyclable products.

I'm sure Cereplast would love other companies to use the logo for their bioplastic products but if that will be the case, it might be better for those companies to first produce third-party certification that indicates their product really has bioplastic content on it to avoid greenwashing.

The blog is thinking of moving back the Weekly News Roundup to Friday instead of Monday...maybe this will work...maybe...

Amyris now operates commercial plant
Renewable chemicals firm Amyris has completed its first industrial-scale facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil, producing its farnesene product Biofene. Amyris expects production to begin in May using sugarcane syrup as feedstock. Its Biofene will then be sold into industrial applications or used as intermediates to form renewable products such as squalene, base oil and finished lubricants/diesel.

Gevo signed an engineering and consulting deal with Mustang Engieering to convert Gevo's bio-isobutanol to parafinnic kerosene for use as jet fuel. Gevo expects to initiate jet engine testing with engine manufacturers once it completes a final "fit for purpose" testing at the Air Force Research Laboratory expected in June.

Avantium has spun-out its pharmaceutical service and development business to become fully independent under the name Crystallics. Avantium plans to focus on its cleantech and chemicals activities. The company said it will develop its YXY advanced catalyst technology in green chemistry and to provide R&D services and systems to chemical and refinery companies.

Biomass-based fuel developer KiOR, Inc. filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of shares of the company's Class A common stock. The number of shares to be sold and the offering price have not yet been determined. Kior said it also plans to build a 11m gal/year biomass-to-fuels plant in Columbus, Mississippi, which will use 500 tons/day of wood biomass.

Canadian bioplastic producer Solegear Bioplastics has partnered with Ferco Compounding of Ontario, California, to produce its Polysole and Traverse bioplastics in the West Coast of North America. The company also partners with another company based in Georgia to support production for the Eastern Seaboard. Solegear expects to begin manufacturing the bioplastics at both facilities in Spring.


US-based bioplastics producer NatureWorks plans to build a polylactic acid (PLA) plant in either Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore.

China's Ministry of Health has drafted regulation banning the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in the manufacture of baby bottles, effective June 1.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday said it will put new restrictions on US producers of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to cut emissions of hazardous pollutants by some 1,500 tonnes from 16 plants at an annual cost of $20m (€14m).

ICIS now officially opens its annual Innovation Awards, which is handled by co-blogger and colleague John Baker. This year, the award has a new category called Best Innovation for Sustainability sponsored by Dutch chemical firm DSM.

This category intends to recognize companies that have been innovative in their approach to embracing sustainability practices in product development and production to ensure long-term business continuity and environment quality (I am quoting John's words here...).

I had an interview  a couple of weeks ago with Bayer MaterialScience's chief administrative officer Robert Kumpf who is also the head of Bayer North American Corporate Sustainability Community Council. He talked about sustainability-related development programs at BMS here in the US as well as some of the company's innovative new products and processs related to sustainability. I should have told him to try entering this year's ICIS Innovation Awards.

As like other corporate strategies, Bayer's sustainability challenge is to balance between economics, environment and social responsibility (you might have hear it as People, Planet, Profit in another sustainability language). Corporate social responsibility and innovation are two major aspects in the company's sustainability strategies especially for Bayer MaterialScience, said Kumpf.

"The biggest contribution that chemical companies, in general, and Bayer, in particular, can give is in the area of carbon abatement and reducing energy use. If you're a chemicals/materials company like us, we can do an awful lot to reduce carbon emissions and energy use," said Kumpf.

He noted the US carbon footprint -- at 7.1 gigaton -- is mostly coming from manufacturing facilities, vehicles, and buildings (commercial and home). Kumpf said Bayer MaterialScience has a wide range of product portfolio and technologies ranging from insulating materials such as polyurethane foams, energy-saving lighting elements such as LEDs, and chemical processing that can significantly contributes to energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

The green blog is actually familiar with Bayer MaterialScience's EcoCommercial Building program, which the company launched in late 2009. The program aims to raise awareness among key players in the construction industry of the significant potential of developing zero-emissions public and commercial building using integrated energy and material solutions.

Possible solutions, according to Bayer, include PU systems for floor coatings; long-life light emitting diode indoor and outdoor lighting systems; PU insulation for roofs, walls and floors, polycarbonate (PC) sheets for roofing constructions, glazing, skylights and facades; PU sealing systems; and solvent-free adhesives.

The blog's attention, however, is more fascinated by some of BMS's new chemical processing technologies. Kumpf cited as examples the company's pilot project in Germany, which produces polyurethanes using carbon dioxide as feedstock; a new chlorine plant in Germany that uses a technology called "oxygen depolarized cathode", which reduces electricity consumption by up to 30% lower than standard membrane technology; and its toluene diisocyanate (TDI) plant in China, which features a gas phase process that enables energy saving of up to 60% compared with conventional TDI plant of the same size. The plant started in late 2008.

According to Kumpf, the new TDI process uses up to 80% less solvent and cut investment costs by some 20%. BMS is replacing its existing TDI plants in Germany with the new process. For the chlorine technology, BMS said it expects to reduce 250,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents using the process by 2020.

Kumpf also noted internal sustainability initiatives in the US. The company said it has started training programs on sustainability thinking for its employees.

"We try to embed sustainability thinking into the minds of our own employees, which are the source of our innovation," said Kumpf. "Even simple activities such as recycling, saving energy use and reducing material waste go a long way." 

Kumpf did not disclose how much the company profited from its sustainability strategies.

Among Bayer's businesses, Bayer MaterialScience, by the way, is responsible for around 80% of the company's energy consumption. BMS aims to reduce its emissions by 25% by 2020, according to Bayer's sustainability report.

From 2012, the group also wants to cut greenhouse gases by 350,000 tonnes/year using a global energy management system called STURCTese introduced in 2008. The system is expected to be implemented in BMS's 60 most energy-intensive production facilities by next year, which could generate an average energy savings of around 10%.

Mitsubishi Chemical and Genomatica are two busy bees this week as fresh from the presses, Genomatica just announced its joint venture partnership with Mitsubishi for the production of bio-BDO as well as other renewable-based chemicals.

The blog mentioned this week the possibility of Mitsubishi selling a 100% renewable-based polybutylene succinate (PbS) -- made from succinic acid and 1,4 butanediol -- and I guess this will come sooner than later with this latest partnership announcement coinciding along with Mitsubishi's recent deal with BioAmber on bio-succinic acid supply and planned production in Thailand.

Geomatica said the two companies are looking to form a joint venture for commercial production of bio-BDO in Asia. I'll check later if we can get any specific information (planned dates, capacity, etc.). Aside from bio-BDO, the companies are also planning to develop other bio-based chemicals.

Also in the press release, Genomatica mentioned Mitsubishi has also became one of its equity investor in the company's recent $45m series C-1 funding round.

"Asia is the fastest‐growing chemicals market in the world and we see great potential to deliver bio‐based chemicals to this market as a growing complement to our current conventionally‐sourced chemicals. We believe that a strategic partnership with Genomatica will provide market‐leading economics and quality which will benefit both parties." - Mitsubishi

With Genomatica's demo facility in the US going to start this year and another demo facility being built in Europe, as well as companies such as Metabolix and UK engineering firm Davy Process Technology (in partnership with bio-succinic acid producer Myriant) also developing their own bio-BDO, this sector is definitely chugging along very nicely all over the world.

Check out my recent article about bio-BDO published for the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) supplement, which was distributed at their annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, last March.

Procter & Gamble is now heavily marketing its sugarcane-based packaged Pantene Pro-V Nature Fusion hair care products starting in Western Europe this summer.

If readers recall, P&G announced in August last year its intent to use Braskem's sugarcane-based high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic for packaging on its Pantene Pro-V, Covergirl and Max Factor brands.

According to Braskem, P&G is a long-time customer of the company's traditional PE plastic products. P&G said the newly packaged hair care products will be marketed to the rest of the world over the next two years.

The company noted that sugarcane-derived plastic consumes over 70% less fossil fuel and has over 170% less greenhouse gas emissions per ton compared to petroleum-based plastic.

"The use of sugarcane-based plastic in our Nature Fusion packaging allows us to offer the same performance consumers expect from Pantene but in a more sustainable way," says Hanneke Faber, P&G's Vice President & Brand Franchise Leader for Global Pantene. "We're thrilled to be the first hair care brand to use this technology on its packaging but we also recognize sustainability is a journey and we're fully committed to it."

Maybe the retail expansion of the green PE-packaged Pantene products is one of the reasons why Braskem recently announced in New York City during the company's investor/media day that it is thinking about expanding its current 200,000 tonne/year sugar-based PE production in Triunfo, Brazil, by building another plant.

According to ICIS News (subscription only), Braskem is thinking of building a worldscale green PE plant with around 400,000 tonne/year capacity, which will be fully integrated into sugarcane ethanol production plant. The second plant could be completed by late 2014 to 2015, according to Braskem CEO Carlos Fadigas.

Ok, so I was wrong when I assumed Myriant Technologies will be involved with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation's (MCC) planned bio-polybutylene succinate (bio-Pbs) joint venture with PTT Limited.

Just got the news this morning that BioAmber was picked as the exclusive succinic acid distributor for Mitsubishi's PbS. According to the press release, BioAmber, its Asian distribution partner Mitsui & Co., and Mitsubishi are also planning to conduct a feasibility study to build a succinic acid production facility next to Mitsubishi's planned renewable-based PbS production plant in Thailand.

 In March, Mitsubishi formed a joint venture named PTT MCC Biochem Company with Thailand-based PTT Limited to produce renewable-based PbS. The companies did not mention any specifics on PbS capacity or location in Thailand. I am trying to reach MCC for comments but unfortunately time zone is a big hindrance when I don't have email address to reach their media relations.

As previously mentioned in my blog, MCC indicated in their last annual report (in December) that target production for renewable-based PbS in Thailand was around 20,000 tons/year, expected to start by fiscal year 2015. MCC is currently producing petroleum-based biodegradable PbS in Japan under the brand GS Pla. I have been checking some of our archives on ICIS.com. and found one article dated June 4 last year, which noted MCC's PbS capacity in Japan at 3,000 tonnes/year.

For those who are curious about PbS, it is currently made from petrochemical-based succinic acid and 1,4 butanediol (BDO). Both chemicals can now be derived from plant raw materials and so we will probably see 100% renewable-based PbS in the market soon. As I recall, BioAmber's subsidiary Sinoven Biopolymers also produces modified PbS in China, where it sources PbS from third parties and subsequently modifies it.

Back to the press release, I asked BioAmber CEO Jean-Francois Huc how much succinic acid is expected to be produced if it will be integrated in MCC's planned PbS in Thailand. He noted that "it will be sufficiently sized to provide MCC's needs as well as extra capacity for other succinic acid needs in Asia."

Feedstock for the plant could come from sugarcane and tapioca, which Huc said is abundant in Thailand.

BioAmber said it has already begun supplying MCC's PbS plant in Japan with biobased succinic acid produced at its Pomacle, France facility. BioAmber also secured the right to source biobased PbS from MCC for its modified PbS polymers marketed by Sinoven.

MCC said partnering with BioAmber will drive down the cost of their PbS, make their PbS over 50% renewable, and accelerate sales growth.

As previously mentioned, Genomatica recently announced its plans to construct a bio-butanediol (BDO) demonstration facility in Rivalta, Italy, this time using cellulosic feedstock in collaboration with engineering firm Chemtex, a subsidiary of Italian PET producer M&G (Gruppo Mossi & Ghisolfi).

By the way, M&G is currently building what the company claimed to be the world's first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Crescentino, Italy, with a 13m gal/year capacity expected to start production next year. Chemtex is using its PROESA process technology to produce the cellulosic ethanol, and Genomatica said it will also use the PROESA process for its bio-BDO production. According to Chemtex, key features of the PROESA technology includes:

• Capability to use a large variety of biomass as collected


• Unique pre-treatment process that produces high quality and low cost sugar from cellulosic biomass for conversion to ethanol and/or biobased chemicals


• High efficiency in viscosity reduction enzymatic hydrolysis


• Simultaneous fermentation of C5 and C6 sugars


• Energy integration with high efficiency burning of lignin

The M&G Rivalta plant currently uses biomass feedstock such as arundo donax (tall perrenial grass) and sorghum; agricultural residues like sugarcane bagasse, wheat and rice straws; and poplar or eucalyptus wood.

"From both conventional sugars and biomass, our processes allow for greater profitability for chemical producers and partners than petro-based processes - even with no 'green premium'. The comparison across different feedstocks depends on regional factors, and demonstrates why diversification is so critical to the industry." - Genomatica

Genomatica will also start producing conventional sugar-based BDO this year at a demonstration facility in Decatur, Illinois, US, in partnership with Tate & Lyle. The company said it has not yet announced specific distribution for its bio-BDO but noted that it is seeing very strong demand for biobased chemicals in the European market as well as in Asia and North America.

The company plans to step into commercial scale around 2013 with expected plant capacity of 100m lbs/year (45,000 tonnes/year).

This post was from my Q&A with Rivertop Renewables' new president and chief financial officer Jere Kolstad (ex-CEO Jim Stoppert reportedly still continues as an advisor). The company recently announced its plans to start building its 100,0000 lb/year semi-works plant in the Fall this year at its headquarters in Missoula, Montana, as well as expanding equipments at its current laboratories. The company will initially produce glucaric acid at the semi-works facility.

Within a year of starting the pilot production, construction of a 60m lb/year commercial plant is expected, said Kolstad.

"We will first produce commercial product through contract manufacturing and will invest in piloting equipment for the grant-funded semi-works facility once market share is build and equipment financing is in place. Market demand could be sufficiently demonstrated as early as this year," said Kolstad.

According to the company, a $3.5m grant for the pilot project was received from the US Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration (EDA) and from the University of Montana. The pilot facility is located at the Montana Technology Enterprise Center (MonTEC), a technology and business incubator formed through a collaboration between the University of Montana and the Missoula Area Economic Development Foundation. Rivertop itself is contributing an additional $2.5m in private capital to the pilot project.

 The semi-works facility will be owned and operated by Rivertop. Aside from glucaric acid, the company also plans to pilot produce other sugar acids such as xylaric, arabinaric and mannaric acids. (The DOE's top 12 renewable chemical building blocks as reported in 2004 include glucaric, xylaric and arabinaric acids by the way...).

For glucaric acid, the company expects to first enter the detergents market by applying glucarate products as a cost-competitive alternative to phosphates. Other applications in the near term includes as corrosion inhibitors and eventually for a host of polymer applications including hydrogels, adhesives, films, and flocculants. The first market the company is exploring for glucaric acid-based polymers is controlled-release fertilizer market, said Kolstad.

"As we continue to refine our production process, build a market for our glucarate products, and gain traction from partners and customers, we expect to announce partnerships that will help us market and sell larger quantities of these products. Through our ongoing discussions with those in the industry, we are seeing significant interest in our glucarate products, particularly as a replacement for phosphates in detergents. Due to this very positive response, we believe that there will be significant opportunities to partner with leading companies in the space to bring product to market." - Kolstad

 Rivertop said it will use corn-based glucose for its initial glucarate products and are already in negotiations with domestic producers for supply. The company said it will always look to obtain feedstock from sources close to their production facility to control costs and environmental impacts associated with transport.

Speaking of costs, the green blog asked Kolstad the economics of their glucaric acid. Glucarates are only commercially available now in fine grades required by nutritional supplement formulators at price tags of $40/lb and higher. This is what he has to say:

"Rivertop is confident that our cost to produce--first through contract manufacturing and eventually through our own commercial facility--will enable introduction of glucarate to industrial markets. We are confident that no other technology will achieve the cost-cutting efficiencies of Rivertop's platform."

I guess this didn't directly answer my question (as of course I had to fish out how much is their glucaric acid cost going to be). If I remember correctly last year in a presentation at the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, Rivertop estimated processing cost for its glucaric acid at 33 cents/lb. Not sure if this is still the case but it definitely beats the $40/lb price. Rivertop previously estimated the potential global market in replacing detergent phosphates at $10bn, and that market approval for this type of product can only take six months.

Checking out ICIS Pricing, the only phosphate price I can get is for fertilizer application where price for diammonium phosphate in the US is currently pegged at around 28 cents/lb.

[Render of Rivertop Renewables' planned lab atrium at the new semi-works facility]

The world of green chemicals had gone amok with demo facility announcements...

First we had Genomatica's press release yesterday about its plans to build a bio-butanediol (BDO) demo facility in Italy in partnership with Chemtex; last week, Rivertop Renewables announced its plans to start construction of its semi-works glucaric acid facility in Missoula, Montana, this Fall; and today, biobutanol developer Cobalt Technologies announced that it will build a demo facility in Alpena, Michigan.

Let's start with today's news on bio-butanol and we'll post a separate one for Genomatica and Rivertop Renewables.

The green blogger had the pleasure of talking with Cobalt Technologies late last year for a biobutanol article published at ICIS Chemical Business (subscription required). According to today's press release, the company is collaborating with biorefinery technology firm American Process Inc. (API) to build a 470,000 gal/year n-butanol demo facility, where the biobutanol product will be pre-sold to chemical industry partners.

Chief financial officer Steve Shevick did not disclose specific chemical company names but said that key participants in the butanol space for chemical applications include DuPont, BASF, AkzoNobel, Eastman, and Oxea. Current chemical end use for n-butanol includes paints, solvents, acrylics, amines, plasticizers, stabilizers, preservatives, etc.

The company will not yet sell to the fuel market as initial market conditions for n-butanol right now are more favorable for the chemical market, said Shevick. However, Cobalt Technologies is still eyeing the fuel industry for its long term strategies.

Both Cobalt Technologies and API will market the biobutanol solution dubbed "GreenPower+" to biomass power facilities and other customers worldwide. GreenPower+ is an API patented process for extracting hemicelluloses sugars from woody biomass. The technology will also selectively converts part of a boiler cellulosic biomass feedstock into biobutanol. API said the GreenPower+ process enables cost effective cellulosic ethanol production at a small scale of 10m-20m gal/year, with an ethanol production cost ~$1/gal.

According to Shevick, potential production of biobutanol from waste wood and other cellulosic feedstocks is billions of gallons worldwide. Here are some of their initial estimates:

• 1.77bn GPY at sugar cane bagasse power (Brazil, India, China across 232 sites)
  

• 1.14bn GPY at wood biomass power and pellets (US and Europe across 126 sites)
  

• 274m GPY at specialty pulp mills (Global across 26 mills - Low CAPEX option)

• 175m GPY at Kraft pulp mills with batch digesters (SE United States - Low CAPEX option)
  

• 4.60bn GPY using cane trash with C6 sugar technology (future) 

• 518mn GPY at Kraft pulp mills with continuous digesters (US, Europe, Latin America, future)

API is currently constructing its own cellulosic ethanol refinery in the Alpena plant where Cobalt's biobutanol process technology will be integrated. The ethanol production will start in early 2012 and will switch to biobutanol in mid-2012.

The Alpena biorefinery is funded in part by a $18m grant from the US Department of Energy and a $4m grant from the state of Michigan. The biorefinery will initially demonstrate the viability of converting hemicelluloses from woody biomass to fermentable sugars that can be used for ethanol production and eventually biobutanol.

Shevick said their biobased n-butanol price will be very competitive against current petrochemical-based materials in the market.

"Cobalt biobutanol will meet all relevant specs and will be price competitive. In general, customers say that they will not pay a premium for renewable butanol, though that remains to be tested. But we don't need a price premium to be profitable." - Shevick

I wonder how their cellulosic-based butanol price will match that of Gevo's who is currently retrofitting an corn-based ethanol plant in Luverne, MN, to produce 18m gal/year of isobutanol.

According to ICIS, April contract price for petroleum-based n-butanol in the US were at a range of $1.10-$1.14/lb while isobutanol were at $1.15-$1.19/lb.

Dow Chemical might not be as loud as DuPont or DSM in their bio-based chemicals intent but they have been very active in investing in this area. In the plastics arena, Dow is still intent on producing sugarcane-based polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). In fact, my colleague Anna Jagger wrote an excellent story about the company's strategy in this market.

But the big news here is Dow looking at the bio-acrylic acid developments and announced last week its intent to collaborate with bioacrylic acid developer OPX Biotechnologies (OPXBIO). Dow is a very big acrylic acid producer (and consumer) and it makes sense for the company to look into diversifying its sources.

By the way, supply of propylene - the main feedstock for petroleum-based acrylic acid - is currently very tight these day, according to ICIS. Acrylic acid capacity in the western markets is also constrained as no new capacity has been added in this region for the past few years -- read this excellent (free!) story on acrylates from ICB's March 25 issue.

"Acrylic monomers are a key building block to Dow's market-facing businesses that sell into various markets including coatings, packaging, building and construction, and personal care," says Tim Donnelly, director, strategy and ventures for Dow's Performance Monomers business. "This, and like projects, will help further create differentiated and diverse product offerings for our customers using innovative technologies and new raw materials."

Donnelly said the collaboration is currently just focused on research and development work on the viability of industrial-scale bioacrylic acid process although the companies said they will discuss commercialization opportunities in 3-5 years if the R&D is successful.

I've asked OPXBIO's CEO Chas Eggert whether Dow will participate in any of the funding or operation of OPXBIO's planned 1m lb/year demo facility here in North America, which is expected to operate in 2011-2012. Here is his answer:

"OPXBIO and Dow will be contributing in-kind research and development to the project. It is expected that the joint development work will be conducted at several Dow facilities in the United States and OPXBIO's laboratories in Boulder, Colo., in addition to possible other locations to be determined."

My last question was about the lifecycle analysis (LCA) of the bioacrylic acid conducted by Symbiotic Engineering, a greenhouse gas and sustainability consultant. According to the press release OPXBIO's production process can reduce GHG emissions by more than 70% compared to traditional petroleum-based AA production.

Eggert said the LCA was performed based on a model for the commercial plant and the expected performance of the microbe and bioprocess at commercial scale. OPXBIO does not expect a different LCA outcome when a real commercial plant will be in place.

"Naturally there will be a difference in the LCA based on how sugar cane is grown versus corn, plus other variables, but we would still expect a similar reduction in greenhouse gases as compared to petroleum-based acrylic acid." -Eggert

OPXBIO said it has achieved commercial-scale manufacturing costs of 70 cents/lb for corn sugar-based bioacrylic acid and 55 cents/lb using sugar feedstock from Brazil. Its ultimate target is 50 cents/lb using corn sugar and less than 40 cents/lb using cane sugar.

The Green Blogger is close to a burnout and will try to take it easy for the next few days (despite three article deadlines for the week yikes!).  I also got some information on the OPX/Dow deal as well as Q&A from Rivertop Renewables' new president Jere Kolstad. It will be posted soon. Another news from Genomatica just came out as I was writing this...that will also be posted soon (no rest for the weary!)

In the meantime, here are last week's news roundup:

Codexis and its partner CO2 Solution Inc. is collaborating with aluminum manufacturer Alcoa in a new pilot program focusing on using carbon capture technology to treat and reuse aluminum manufacturing byproducts such as alkaline clay, bauxite residue and other alkaline industrial residuals. The project will be funded by Alcoa along with $13.5m in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

CJ CheilJedang (CJ Group) and Arkema will build a methyl mercaptan integrated- bio-methionine plant and thiochemicals platform in South East Asia (Malaysia or Thailand). The 80,000 ton bio-methionine production plant and the thiochemicals platform would come on stream at the end of 2013.

Novozymes partner Mossi & Ghisolfi Group (M&G) started construction for a 13m gal/year (50m liters/year) cellulosic ethanol production facility in Crescentino in northwestern Italy. The plant will be 10 times larger than the largest demonstration facilities in operation today and is designed to operate on a multitude of cellulosic feedstocks. It is scheduled to start production in 2012.

POET is expanding its corn oil production that could produce more than 500m lbs/year that could be made into 60m gal/year of biodiesel. POET is now selling Voilà™ corn oil from POET Biorefining -- Hudson (S.D.) into biodiesel and feed markets. The corn oil could also be used for other purposes including paint, varnish, ink, detergents, etc.

Google is making its first clean energy project investment in Europe worth €3.5m ($5m) in a solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Germany in partnership with German private equity firm Capital Stage. The solar plant in Brandenburg an der Havel, near Berlin has a peak capacity of 18.65MWp, which puts it among the largest in Germany.

INSIGHT: Bio-processes and products looking for a market.

Chile's ForEnergy is planning biomass-to-liquids (BTL) projects and chose Germany's CHOREN as the synthesis-gas technology partner for the project in Chile.

Australia's Algae.Tec plans to set up between one to three commercial plants in Australia, the United States and a third country by 2014 that will use high-yield algae to produce biofuels and biomass.

I've been noticing a lot of bio-lubricants collaboration announcement recently and we might as well try to get a little bit of insight into this market. By the way, you might have already heard about big news from OPX Biotechnologies and Rivertop Renewables announced on Monday. I am getting more information about them and will post soon.

Back to bio-lubes, Elevance Renewable Sciences also announced on Monday that it has partnered with Kansas City, Missouri-based NL Grease LLC in the commercialization of new renewable-based high-performance grease (a semi-solid lubricant for those not familiar with it) using Elevance's metathesis technology. The companies expect to start selling to the North American grease market this year.

I have not spoken to Elevance on this deal but a nice article from Lubes and Greases magazine reported that the partnership will involve marketing products both from Elevance's/Wilmar's joint venture biochemical refinery in Indonesia as well as some contract manufacturing Elevance would be doing in other locations. The goal, according to the article, is to make greases available throughout North America and elsewhere.

Grease manufactured products are used in the automotive, industrial, railroad, construction, oil drilling, agriculture and off-highway markets. In the press release, grease production worldwide was reportedly more than 2bn pounds in 2009. I have not followed the lubricants and grease markets since 2007 so my brain in this area is very rusty (it needs to be lubricated haha!).

Meanwhile, last March, both Solazyme and Amyris announced green lubes partnership as well. Solazyme has partnered with Dow Chemical to advance the development of algal oils for use in di-electric insulating fluids. Process oils such as electrical oils, rubber oils, white oils, defoamer oils, ink oils, and agricultural spray oils represent anouther leading lubricant category after engine oils.

Solazyme said they hope to tap the more than 500m gallon dielectric insulating fluids market with bio-based alternative. Dow is expected to initially obtain up to 20m gallons of Solazyme algal oils for use in dielectric insulating fluids and other industrial applications in 2013 and up to 60m gallons in 2015.

Amyris formed a joint venture with distributor US Venture to produce, market and distribute finished lubricants for the North American market using Amyris' farnesene-derived base oils. Amyris is said to be working on the production of a complete line of renewable lubricants, including hydraulic, compressor, turbine and gear oil and grease, as well as 2-cycle and 4-cycle engine oil.

Base oils by the way are typically the building blocks of lubricant oils and are mostly derived from a mixture of fractions of the crude petroleum oil refining process. Typically lubricants contain 90% base oil and less than 10% additives (thanks Wikipedia!). Vegetable oils or synthetic liquids such as hydrogenated polyolefins, esters, silicones, fluorocarbons and many others are sometimes used as base oils.

Amyris is actually manufacturing farnesene-derived base oils through a joint venture with Brazilian sugar producer Cosan. The Cosan/Amyris joint venture plans to use sugarcane as a feedstock in a standard fermentation process in which Amyris's modified yeast converts the cane syrup to farnesene (under the brand Biofene™). Biofene is then finished chemically to create base oils.

There are already a lot of bio-based lubricants in the market especially derived from vegetable oil. According to a 2010 report commissioned by the US trade group United Soybean Board, bio-based hydraulic fluids are growing 5-10%/year worldwide and now represent 2-4% (US) and 3-7% (EU) of the hydraulics markets mostly because of advancement in performance, cost and of course it's "renewable-based" factors. Supply availability for base oils in the US is also tightening as petroleum-based oil production capacity has moved off-shore.

Of the bio-based oils, soybean oil is the most well researched in the field of lubricants, according to the report. Soy-based lubricant applications include packaged household lubricants, industrial hydraulic fluids, food grade hydraulic fluids, transformer fluids, transmission fluids, chain lubricants, gear lubricants, compressor lubricants and greases.

Speaking of which, there are three already commercialized bio-lubricants that recently bagged the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Biopreferred label: Nutek Green, Green Earth Technologies, Bio-Lub Canada.

The bioplastic bottle battle continues as Coca-Cola announced on Monday that it has converted its Dasani PET (polyethylene terephthalate) water bottles and its Odwalla single-serving fruit juice HDPE (high density polyethylene) bottles to its recyclable PlantBottle packaging.

Like its flagship Coke soda Plantbottle packaging, the Dasani PET bottles are now made up to 30% plant-based materials (mostly coming from the ethylene glycol part of PET). The Odwalla HDPE bottle on the other hand will made from up 100% plant-based plastic since polyethylene nowadays can be made from 100% sugarcane-based ethanol (think of Braskem for example).

According to Coca-Cola, its PlantBottle packaging is estimated to have eliminated the equivalent of 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or three million gallons of gasoline used to produce PET plastic bottles. Like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola's ultimate long-term goal is to turn waste into a resource for a 100% renewable-based bottle that is fully recyclable.

"Several approaches to a PET package made entirely from plants have been successfully demonstrated in laboratory testing. We're working to advance this breakthrough science to ensure it is commercially viable," said Scott Vitters, General Manager, PlantBottle Packaging Platform, The Coca-Cola Company. "PlantBottle packaging means only good things for everybody. We welcome others in the industry joining us in advancing the science behind packaging made from plants."

I know the blog is late putting out this news but it's worthwhile to mention some of the first companies and products that were included in the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) newly-certified biobased products.

If readers recalled, the USDA put out an announcement in January about their new voluntary product certification and labeling program for qualifying biobased products (and chemicals). The label identifies biobased products as those composed wholly or significantly of biological ingredients coming from renewable plant, animal, marine or forestry materials and will have a prescribed percentage amount of biobased content certified to meet the USDA standards.

Eleven companies received the first BioPreferred label approval with products including hand soaps and hand sanitizers, plant-based plastic food packaging used to package fresh food, an array of biobased cleaning products, engine oils and lubricants, as well as biobased fiber spun into carpet and clothes.

Companies include: Nutek Green, Seventh Generation, Betco Corp., Clear Lam Packaging, DuPont, ElastiKote, Green Earth Technologies, National Industries for the Blind Agencies, NatureWorks, Rochester Midland Corporation, and Bio-Lub Canada.

The USDA estimates that there are 20,000 biobased products currently being manufactured in the United States.

Thank you for making my @ICISgreenblog twitter achieved past the 1000 mark!! I hope to be more active (in twitter and blog) as soon as school is out.

For now, here are this week's news roundup:

Cargill has purchased Tate & Lyle's corn wet mill ethanol plant in Fort Dodge, Iowa, which has the ability to grind 150,000 bushels/day of corn and has the capacity to produce 115m gal/year of ethanol. Cargill said the facility will fit into their bio-product portfolio and plans to replicate their biorefinery success in Blair, Nebraska and Eddyville, Iowa.

Solix Biofuels has secured in excess of $16m for its first part of Series B financing round from investors such as Bohemian Ventures, The Southern Ute Alternative Energy Fund and I2BF Global Ventures. The new funding will drive the commercialization of Solix's industrial algae growth system, the AGS™. Solix also changed its name to Solix BioSystems.

Waste plastic-to-oil developer Agilyx has secured $22m funding from new investors such as Waste Management, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Total Energy Ventures, and existing investors such as Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Saffron Hill Ventures and Reference Capital. Agilyx's facility near Portland, Oregon is said to be the largest commercially operational waste plastic to synthetic crude oil facility in North America.

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) plans to acquire a soybean crushing and biodiesel facility in Deerfield, Mo., from Prairie Pride, Inc. for an undisclosed amount. ADM will also form a partnership with Prairie Pride for the biodiesel portion of the business. The cooperative Prairie Pride has 21m bushels/year of soybean crushing capacity, producing more than 467,000 tons of soymeal and 30m gal/year of biodiesel.

UOP LLC said its Honeywell Green Jet Fuel™, produced using UOP process technology, successfully powered an Interjet Airbus A320-214 from Mexico City to Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas.The fuel uses Mexican-sourced jatropha and was blended with traditional petroleum-derived jet fuel to power one of the aircraft's CFM56-5B4/3 engines manufactured by CFM International.The demonstration flight took place April 1.

Evonik is building an integrated production plant for organic specialty surfactants based on renewable raw materials at its site in Shanghai, China. With an investment volume in the upper double-digit million range, the production network is scheduled to begin operation in mid 2013. The various specialty surfactants will be used primarily for cosmetics and laundry care products, as well as for industrial applications.

European recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) prices extended their record highs across all grades, with the exception of mixed coloured flakes, on tight supply and strong demand, buyers and sellers said.

The Polish Chamber of the Chemical Industry (PIPC) is preparing to lobby against the introduction of excessive unilateral greenhouse gas targets during Poland's upcoming six-month presidency of the EU.

In the past two years, diminished access to venture capital has slowed the commercialisation of biofuel projects, but has been a boon to bio-based chemicals, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) said.

Got two news yesterday from LanzaTech and Elevance Renewable Sciences.

New Zealand-based LanzaTech said it has partnered with Taiwan-based LCY Chemical Corporation (LCY) to develop and produce chemicals from bio-based C2-C5 feedstock, which could replace LCY's current petroleum-based portfolio such as TPE, PP, solvents and methanol derivatives. LCY is also looking to expand in bioplastics and biofuels.

LCY said it will fund the construction of production plants in exchange for access to LanzaTech's gas fermentation technology.

"Bio-based chemicals are currently one per cent of global chemicals production, but that is expected to increase to nine per cent during the next 10 years," said LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren. "LanzaTech and LCY will produce key bio-based chemicals, creating new products and revenue streams for both companies."

Holmgren said biobased chemicals and plastics are forecasted to have potential global revenue of $15bn (EUR11.4bn) by 2020.

Meanwhile, Elevance said it is collaborating with International Specialty Products (ISP) to evaluate and commercialize renewable-based waxes and derivatives as biocide carriers for wood plastic composite materials. The waxes are made from vegetable oils produced using Elevance's metathesis technology.

The companies plan to commercialize the products late this year.

Sorry about the alphabetical soup headline, blame my weird sense of humor =)

The blog covered PTT Limited and Mitsubishi Chemical Company (MCC) before about their planned bio-polybutylene succinate (bio-Pbs) partnership. MCC announced to its investors in December that it is planning to establish operation in Thailand w/ PTT for the production of its bio-Pbs using "low-cost raw materials to enter new markets." Target production in Thailand is around 20,000 tons/year by fiscal year 2015.

Last week, PTT and MCC announced the formation of their new 50/50 joint venture company PTT MCC Biochem Company Limited. Both will invest around US$200 million (Bhat6.1 billion) to establish the bio-Pbs plant in Thailand, PTT will hold 18m shares of the new JV.

Several news sources indicate the possibility that the joint-venture company would start construction this year.

By the way, the blog apologizes for mixing up PTT Ltd. with PTT Chemical (PTTCH) as one company pointed out that these two entities are quite different when it comes to their bioplastic activities. PTT Ltd. is the parent company of PTTCH but the two act independently and both are publicly traded companies (the operational structures of major Asian chemical companies always mystify me...).

If readers recall, the blog also noted about PTTCH's joint venture with bio-succinic acid producer Myriant and I speculated  that Myriant could play a big role with PTT and MCC's bio-Pbs joint venture. This might still be the case though.