August 2011 Archives

This is an insight from Dr. Joaquin Barroso-Flores about the future of Green and Sustainable Chemistry.

--------------------------

As an Associated Research Fellow at the Joint Center for Sustainable Chemistry Research, I'm frequently reminded that there is little consensus in the scientific community about the difference between "green" and "sustainable" chemistry.

Many ask, are they synonyms?

At the Center, we recently held a congress on green chemistry where this question arose. We reached the conclusion that green chemistry is related to environmentally friendly processes - such as carrying reactions out in water, supercritical fluids, solvent-free media or modifying reaction schemes to generate as little pollutants as possible.

Sustainable chemistry relates to the modification of our current chemical or industrial processes in a chemically and financially economical way such that we may be able to carry them on in the future without consuming all of our non-renewable resources. Therefore, green and sustainable chemistry are not interchangeable concepts, but should clearly be interlocked so we minimize both the environmental and social impacts of our science while addressing our industrial needs.

To help ensure future generations of chemists understand the importance of employing green and sustainable chemistry practices in their everyday work and research, we need to educate today's students, starting with undergraduates, to think about how to use the same old chemistry tools in new environmentally friendly ways. For example, we could teach students how to use the same organic chemistry reactions we already know, to modify synthesis paths in fewer steps. 

I spoke specifically about these matters during The Future of Sustainable Chemistry, a virtual conference hosted by The Dow Chemical Company that brought together 30 global thinkers to explore how sustainable chemistry can be used to solve some of the world's most complex challenges. It was exciting to be part of a collaborative, global dialogue around sustainable chemistry, and I hope the conversation will continue.

To learn more about my perspective on green and sustainable chemistry, you can visit my blog. You can also watch my two-minute video, which was shown as part of The Future of Sustainable Chemistry conference, or watch the full hour-long conference at www.FutureWeCreate.com.

------------------------------

Dr. Barroso-Flores received his Ph. D in Chemistry in 2007 from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. From 2006-2008, Dr. Barroso-Flores worked as an associate research fellow at the Polymers Research Center from the COMEX Group in Mexico City.  While at the Center, his work focused on the optimization of commercial coatings formulations, as well as the development of new additives for improved performance in such coatings.

In late 2008, Dr. Barroso-Flores moved back to Cluj-Napoca to work as a post-doctoral fellow in the field of theoretical design of calixarene molecules as potential drug delivery agents. Starting in May 2010, Dr. Barroso-Flores joined the Institute of Chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and was appointed to the Center for Research in Sustainable Chemistry, where he works today in Applied Theoretical Chemistry, working on projects related to drug delivery agents and design, as well as artificial photosynthesis.

Before I go home and prepare for Hurricane Irene, let me post this interesting news from the University of Alberta in Canada about their development of bioplatic using waste beef carcasses.

The researchers said they are hoping to divert tonnes of protein waste from landfills across North America as well as boost flagging profit levels in the cattle industry with this development.

The new plastics are currently being tested by The Woodbridge group, a car parts manufacturer. Current funding is focused on research that further experiments with the product, to see if the plastics can be mixed with renewable fibres such as hemp. If successful, the resulting bio-composite material could be used in high-strength materials such as building structural supports.

The researchers filed a patent on the thermal process used to turn protein from bovine byproducts into plastics.

As soon as I came back, earthquake hits the East Coast on Tuesday and a big hurricane is heading towards here as well. I think this is a sign that I need more vacation...Stay safe for those who live in the East Coast!

Several big news came up last week while I was out and I was able to post some of them such as Genomatica's IPO filing, Amyris' capacity expansion and continued Gevo-Butamax patent fight saga. The US government also announced last week its intent to invest $510m in the next 3 years to produce advanced biofuels to power military and commercial transportation. More of this as well as several big biofuel news (including Petrobras' ethanol investment announcement) in another post.

Meanwhile, here are this week's news roundup compiled within the past 14 days:

LanzaTech, Harsco on waste-based ethanol
New Zealand-based LanzaTech formed an alliance with US industrial company Harsco to promote LanzaTech's technology of reusing steel mill flue gases into fuel grade ethanol. The companies will present the technology to Harsco's major steel mill customers and explore potential business relationships for installing and operating commercial facilities worldwide.

GlycosBio in algae collaboration
Glycos Biotechnologies and Solix BioSystems have demonstrated potential conversion of Solix's algae oil into ethanol using GlycosBio's biocatalysts. The companies planned to convert the algae oil into other higher value chemicals. GlycosBio's current target is production of bio-derived isoprene.

A 3-year European Union FP7 funded project called Bionexgen was launched led by the University of Manchester's CoEBio3 research group and other institutions which aims to develop next generation biocatalysts to replace traditional chemical manufacturing methods with greener biotechnology routes.

OakBio develops CO2-based chems process
California-based OakBio has developed a microbe-based technology that captures carbon dioxide from waste industrial gas streams and convert it into specialty chemicals and fuels. OakBio's CEO Russell Howard is the founder of Codexis. OakBio was established in 2008.

Codexis reported two million fold improvement on its customized carbonic anhydrase enzymes used in catalyzing carbon capture under industrial conditions. The enzymes are said to be functional and stable in relatively inexpensive, energy efficient solvents for 24 hours at temperatures greater than 90 degrees Celsius.

Cereplast has formed a distribution deal with Mastercolor AB to supply Cereplast bioplastic resins to the Scandinavian market specifically Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Mastercolor AB will supply Cereplast Compostables® resin to product and package manufacturers.

Linde to start CCS pilot plant in 2014
Linde's carbon capture pilot facility to be built in Wilsonville, Alabama, is targeted to be operational by early 2014. The facility, which is designed to capture at least 90% of the CO2 generated, will test novel CO2 scrubbing solutions to reduce the energy consumption and cost of advanced carbon capture and separation systems for coal-fired power plants.

Clariant has partnered with Japan-based biopolymer producer KitoZyme to develop white biotechnology products for personal care applications. Clariant's personal care ingredients using the biopolymers Chitosan and Chitin-glucan will be available starting October under trade names Vitipure, Zenvivo and Velsan.

Solvay has developed on-site fluorine gas production units to dramatically decrease greenhouse gas emissions as a replacement for nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) in the photovoltaic and semiconductor industry. Solvay is testing a new electronic grade fluorine gas unit at its industrial site in Onsan, Korea. After testing, the 100 tonne/year F2 gas unit will be installed at a customer site.

Eco-One plastic additives ok'd in Brazil
Ecologic said its' Eco-One™ additives for enhancing biodegradation of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) have been approved for food contact applications by Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA). Eco-One™ is an organic additive that enhances the biodegradation of plastic products in a biologically active landfill

Europe carbon tax may stimulate chems tech investment.

Global demand for green packaging will rise by 5.7% per year to reach $212bn (€146bn) in 2015, according to a market research study by Freedonia Group.

Asian polysilicon prices are expected to drop to below $50/kg (€35/kg) FOB (free on board) northeast (NE) Asia in the coming weeks amid high stockpiles of photovoltaic materials in China and prevailing weak demand, market players said.

The blog has been following the biobutanol patent issues between Butamax and Gevo since August 9. Last week, however, Gevo announced its request to the US Patent and Trademarked Office (USPTO) to invalidate Butamax's patent 7,851,188 issued on December 2010, which covers biocatalysts that Butamax developed to produce isobutanol.

Gevo is also filing a second petitiion with the USPTO to invalidate Butamax's patent 7,993,889 which was granted on August 9. This patent covers methods for low-cost production of biobutanol.

Butamax filed an infringement lawsuit against Gevo on January this year regarding the '188 patent. On August 9, Butamax amended the lawsuit to also include the related '889 patent. On Gevo's recent press release, the company said the two patents were already known in the scientific community and were already been invented by others before Butamax applied for the patents. 

"Furthermore, Gevo does not use the technology claimed in these patents. We use our own distinct technology, GIFT® (Gevo Integrated Fermentation Technology®), which is covered by more than 150 patent applications and enables the efficient production of isobutanol." - Gevo

It must be intimidating for a small company to go against chemical giants such as DuPont. However, this patent fight seems to signal the growing potential importance of bio-butanol for the biofuel and chemical industries. The blog would like to hear opinions from other bio-isobutanol producers about this issue...

I think my posting strategy when it comes to Amyris is to wait for a few more days as they keep putting out several press releases almost everyday.

One big announcement this week was its supply partnership with chemical firm Albemarle on synthetic renewable base oils ("synthetic renewable" -- I like this word...). Albemarle will manufacture the base oils trademarked NovaSpec using Amyris farnesene molecule, and supply it to Novvi SA, the Brazil-based joint venture between Amyris and sugar/ethanol company Cosan. Novvi will market the base oils to finished lubricant manufacturers worldwide.

Albemarle expects to start production of NovaSpec base oils at its Orangeburg, South Carolina facility although timeframe was not disclosed.The blog recalled its first post about Amyris' announced intent to enter the base oils market on December 2010.

Amyris also announced today the launch of its new line of industrial lubricants under the trademark EvoShield. Applications for the product include hydraulic oils, 2-cycle engine oils, marine grade products, food grade products, compressor oils, turbine oils and gear lubricants. The lubricants was also made using NovaSpec base oils, which is produced by Novvi (and could probably be manufactured by Albemarle as well).

Commercial production of the lubricants is reportedly expected to start this year.

Another supply deal announcement was from last week with Amyris' multi-year agreement to supply Nikko Chemicals with farnesene-based squalene for distribution in the Japanese market. Squalane is said to be a high-end moisturizing ingredient used in a wide range of cosmetics, currently sourced from shark liver oil or refined olive oil. Amyris' farnesene is made from sugarcane.

Amyris said it is also exploring other Biofene-based cosmetic commercialization opportunities.

And last (but I'm sure not the least!), Amyris announced last week that it is commissioning its third industrial-scale Biofene farnesene production facility owned and operated by Tate and Lyle located in Decatur, Illinois, US. The additional capacity (numbers undisclosed) will come in handy after all these recent supply announcements.

[Photo source: www.oiltreatments.net]

The market may be in upheaval but that doesn't deter renewable chemical company Genomatica from filing an IPO (initial public offering) worth up to $100m on the NASDAQ stock exchange today.

The green blogger was out on vacation last week and so was not able to post Genomatica's recent announcement on its joint venture with Italian bioplastic producer Novamont and its milestone in producing bio-butadiene. The blog, however, already speculated a long time ago that Genomatica seems to be intent on filing an IPO this year as well.

Under Genomatica's S-1 filing on the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company reported a loss of $9m for the first six months this year compared to a loss of $6m in the same period in 2010. The company said it has accumulated a deficit of $43.5m as of June 30, and had not yet generated any revenue on biobased chemical sales. 

"We expect to continue to incur substantial and increasing net losses for the next several years, in particular as we seek to scale up our butanediol (BDO) process toward commercialization, expand our research and development efforts and transition to a public company."

That's the bad part. The good news is that Genomatica plans to start commercial production for its first biobased chemical BDO by the end of 2012 under the Novamont joint venture. Novamont would provide all the capital to convert, build and operate the 40m lb/year (20,000 tonnes/year) bio-BDO plant in Italy, and the company will also consume the BDO for captive use. Genomatica will have an option on a portion of the BDO production and will also share a specified percentage of any losses from the production and sale of BDO at the plant.

The company plans to initially produce its BDO using conventional sugar derived from corn, sugarcane, sugar beets and cassava.Genomatica is already producing demonstration scale BDO using dextrose sugar in a 13,000 liter fermentation tank owned by food ingredients producer Tate & Lyle in Decatur, Illinois.

Genomatica also plans to produce bio-BDO in Asia through its joint venture with Mitsubishi Chemical. The company did not announced planned capacity, timeline for construction or location of the Asian plant although Mitsuibishi Chemical said it plans to use bio-BDO in the future for its planned 20,000 tonne/year polybutylene succinate (Pbs) facility in Thailand, which will start in 2015. Genomatica reported on the S-1 filing that its goal is to begin high volume bio-BDO production in the US, Europe and Asia in 2014 and 2015.

The bio-BDO plants are expected to each have a capacity of between 100m-130m lb/year depending on regional market dynamics, and supply and demand factors. Genomatica estimates a bio-BDO plant using its processing design will cost 30%-60% less to build compared to similar sized plant using conventional competing process (Reppe process, butadiene-acetic acid process, Davy process, propylene oxide process, and Geminox process).

The company also formed a joint development agreement in April with Chemtex, a subsidiary of Italian PET producer M&G (Gruppo Mossi & Ghisolfi), to construct a bio-BDO demonstration facility in Rivalta, Italy, using cellulosic feedstock. Genomatica said it is also working with M&G for possible developments of other sugar-based chemicals.

Genomatica revealed last week its intent to enter the bio-butadiene market when it successfully produced pound quantities of the C4 chemical. For more on bio-butadiene development, check out my recent bio-based rubber chemicals article on ICIS Chemical Business.

According to Genomatica, this development is still at an early stage. No other information was disclosed on this project but my ICIS colleagues found this link on various methods in producing renewable BD from sugar fermentation. One possible route is the fermentation of sugars to 1,4 BDO and subsequent dehydration to 1,3 BD.

In summary, here are Genomatica's recent partnership deals:

Here are recent news on the biofuels market getting stale in my draft box...

• Bharat Renewable Energy Forms Alliance with SG Biofuels

• Praj Contracted a US$ 22 mln Ethanol Plant Order in Colombia

• Lignol and FPInnovations sign joint development and commercialization agreement.

• Joule Awarded Patents for High-Volume Ethanol Production from Sunlight and CO2

• ITOCHU, Bunge Begin Ethanol Production at JV in Tocantins, Northern Brazil

• Renewable Energy Group Finalizes Purchase of Biodiesel Facility in Albert Lea, Minnesota

• Neste Oil to Begin Using Jathropha and Camelina Oils as Raw Material for Renewable Fuels

• Lufthansa began regularly scheduled flights using Neste Oil's renewable aviation fuel

• Rentech gets approval for Florida biomass gasification project

• GreenShift Receives New Corn Oil Extraction Patent

• New Study Finds U.S. Ethanol Production Growth Has Not Triggered Indirect Land Use Change

• Mission Commences Sales Into Malaysian Biodiesel Mandate

Guess where I'm heading for vacation this week? ;-) The green blogger will be offline until August 22 so I will leave you this weekly news round-up and maybe (just maybe) a roundup of biofuel news as well...

Is this a signal from Bunge that it is ready to be a big-time player in the agri-based industrial chemicals market?

The blog saw this news from Solazyme yesterday about their sugar deal with agribusiness company Bunge. The companies actually started their partnership in August 2010 when Bunge started investing in Solazyme. In May this year, the companies started a 2-year joint development agreement to develop microbe-derived oils using Brazilian sugarcane as feedstock.

Readers have to remember that Solazyme's algae grows via fermentation by feeding it with sugar (instead of the more challenging photosynthesis method of using carbon dioxide and sunlight). I think this is a good move for Solazyme to lock in their sugar feedstock needs to produce their algae-based triglyceride oils.

Bunge, just like its competitors Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland, has a vast operating sugar and ethanol business in Brazil. But unlike Cargill and ADM, Bunge is not really a well-known player in renewable-based chemicals.

Bunge's knowledge on logistics and feedstock supply in Brazil as well as its global presence on the agriculture and food markets will be a great asset to Solazyme.Bunge also produces/supply/trades various vegetable oils worldwide as well as consumes them for its own food products.

In this particular deal, the companies will form a joint venture company to produce 100,000 tonnes/year triglyceride oils that will be located at Bunge's sugarcane mill in Brazil. Construction will start once engineering designs and execution of the final JV agreements have been settled. Startup of the renewable oils plant is expected in 2013.

The triglyceride oils will be used for chemicals application and financing of the project will be split 50/50.

One analyst from Jefferies & Company estimates capital expenditure (capex) for the plant will be around $90-$110m. The plant should consume around 300,000 tonnes/year of sugar, the equivalent of 2m tonnes/year of sugarcane crush, according to Jefferies.

Solazyme, by the way, also reported its second quarter earnings last week -- it's first earnings call after their initial public offering (IPO) in May. Milestones mentioned include:

• Completed production of over 283,000 liters of in-spec marine diesel fuel, HRF-76, for the U.S. Navy, in fulfillment of the first phase of Solazyme's Defense Logistic Agency (DLA) contract that calls for production of up to 550,000 liters in two phases. The phase 2 fuel would be produced through the first half of 2012.

• Distribution expansion for Algenist™ in Canada.

• Begin construction of its planned 1,500 tonne/year biorefinery in a recently acquired facility in Peoria, Illinois, (acquired in May) by adding fermentation capacity and performing upgrades. The fermentation portion of this facility is expected to be operational in the second half of 2011, with end-to-end manufacturing expected in the first half of 2012.

Solazyme said it plans to acquire additional capacity and shift from toll manufacturing to in-house production. The company also plans to open a Brazil R&D center or R&D laboratory as well as enter into additional partnerships to scale accordingly. By 2012, Solazyme plans to have a new 10,000 tonne/year facility underway.

Solazyme posted Q2 sales of $7.4m coming from $1.3m of product revenue and $6m of R&D funding, this is up from $4.4m a year ago. The company posted net loss of $17m versus $6.3m.

Apologies to the blog readers for this very late news roundup. It has been a busy week full of meetings and conference calls. The good part is that there had been a lot of green news as well. Have a great weekend everybody!

DuPont has acquired California-based Innovalight Inc., a company specializing in advanced silicon inks and process technologies that increase the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells. DuPont exceeded $1 billion in revenue from sales into the photovoltaic market in 2010, and has set a goal to reach $2 billion by 2014.

Waste-to-biofuels and chemicals company Enerkem closed a C$29m ($29.6m) in financing through corporate equity (C$14.5m) and corporate debt (C$14.2m) transactions. As part of the equity financing round, The Westly Group, Fondaction CSN and Quince Associates, L.P. join existing investors Valero Energy, Waste Management, Rho Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures and Cycle Capital, who had each invested in the recently announced C$59 million equity tranche.

BIOX has secured funding to undertake upgrades at its Hamilton (Ontario, Canada) biodiesel facility to improve the quality of its glycerin by-product from crude to technical grade, which currently has wholesale market value of 30c.-40c./lb. Crude glycerin by-product from BIOX's biodiesel production has limited market applications and requires storage and handling costs that exceed its market value. Installation of new equipment will take place in early 2012 during planned spring maintenance.

Solazyme signed a distribution deal with UK's beauty retailer, Space NK, for its algae-based skincare line, Algenist™. The skincare brand has been launched in Space NK stores and online beginning July 2011, retailing between £52 ($85) and £76 ($124). Algenist will launch in the UK with four initial product offerings.

Ecospan expands bioplastic in Philly
US bioplastic company Ecospan will open a new operations center in Exton, PA, this fall, where it plans to have a commercial production by the end of next year.  The company said the site will augment its existing production capabilities in Arizona and toll production in California, Germany, Malaysia and China. Ecospan produces a 100% petroleum-free, plant-based bioplastic trademarked BioFlow. 

US bioplastic additives company EcoLogic signed an exclusive deal to supply Letica Corp., a supplier of foodservice packaging and containers, as well as rigid plastic containers, with Eco-One™ organic plastic additives.Eco-One™ reportedly enhances the biodegradation of plastic products in a biologically active landfill. EcoLogic also made a distribution agreement with GEA Biodegradales to distribute Eco-One™ throughout Mexico. The additives are compatible with resins PE, PP, PET, PS, nylon, ABS, PVC and polycarbonate.

AkzoNobel buys China oleochem firm
Specialty chemical company AkzoNobel has acquired Boxing Oleochemicals based in Shandong, China. The company supplies oleochemical-based specialty surfactants, synthetic and bio-polymers additives. AkzoNobel plans to increase Boxing's capacity at the Shandong site by introducing state of the art manufacturing technology. The transaction is expected to close by year-end.

BASF is planning to double production of its Hexamoll DINCH phthalate-free plasticizer to 200,000 tonnes/year at the Ludwigshafen, Germany, site by 2013 by building a new production facility. Demand is reportedly strong across all regions for alternative plasticizers. BASF said its Hexamoll plasticizer is now increasingly being used in medical applications and food packaging.

Solutia was awarded contracts to supply its Therminol® VP-1 synthetic heat transfer fluid for two new 50 MW each solar power plants with thermal storage located in Extramadura, Spain. Therminol heat transfer fluid is used to absorb concentrated sunlight, heating up to about 400 degrees Celsius. This stored heat can be used to produce energy during periods of little to no sunlight, including the evening hours. The heated Therminol is used to generate steam, which drives the power-generating turbines.

Brazil-based petrochemical producer Braskem is producing renewable polyethylene (PE) for Tetra Pak's Nestle packaging.

Dow Chemical plans to build manufacturing facilities for polyolefin encapsulant films in Schkopau, Germany, and Map Ta Phut, Thailand, next year. The investments will more than triple Dow Chemical's capacity for speciality films used in photovoltaic modules.

Specialty chemicals company Sud-Chemie broke ground on its new €28m ($40m) straw-fed biofuel plant at Straubing in southern Germany.

Ok, not much information given for this announced partnership between bio-isobutanol producer Gevo and South Africa-based chemical company Sasol yesterday during Gevo's second quarter earnings conference call.

According to Gevo, the companies have entered a 3-year commercial off-take supply of bio-isobutanol to Sasol starting in 2012. Gevo anticipates the utilization of majority of their 2012 and 2013 planned production capacity, although the specific volume and price commitments were not mentioned in the press release.

In this case, Gevo's bio-isobutanol will specifically be for solvents application for sale and distribution to Sasol's global customer base. Gevo noted on the conference call that Asia might be the more quicker region to adopt the new product although the company is also foreseeing good demand for bio-isobutanol in Europe and the US.

Looking at Gevo's capacity, the company said it plans to increase bio-isobutanol capacity of the Luverne, Minnesota plant it is currently retrofitting above the projected 18m gal/year. Gevo did not disclosed by how much, however. Another plant is in Redfield, South Carolina, which will also be retrofitted to produce 38m gal/year of bio-isobutanol, which is expected to start by the fourth quarter of 2012. The Luverne plant is expected to start in the first half of 2012.

So by the first quarter of 2013, Gevo will already have more than 58m gal/year of bio-isobutanol and the company is still talking to several other ethanol producers to get to its goal of 350m gal/year by 2015.

Gevo's current pipeline of customers include Lanxess for an exclusive first right on bio-isobutanol supply (within 10 year-term) in synthetic rubber manufacture; Total on a non-binding deal on bio-isobutanol supply for use in biofuel; Toray for a non-binding supply of bio-isobutanol in paraxylene production; and Sasol for non-binding supply of bio-isobutanol in solvents application.

Gevo also has a non-binding agreement with United Airlines to supply bio-isobutanol at their hub airport in Chicago starting 2013. Analysts were questioning Gevo's capability to supply its customers within the 2012-2013 timeframe but the company said it has the ability to ramp up faster to meet demand going forward.

"In the Sasol deal, the volumes they need will also not prevent us from meeting demand from our other relationships. We have mechanisms in place to make sure we don't accept orders if we can't make it. " - Gevo.

In terms of pricing arrangement, Sasol's contract will reportedly be indexed to corn. Despite higher corn prices this year, Gevo said Sasol was comfortable with the pricing as the company noted higher petrochemical values these days as well as projected continued higher price of crude oil.

Looking at current export pricing for petroleum-based isobutanol coming from the US, ICIS reported isobutanol price range at between 78 cents/lb and 81 cents/lb although US isobutanol contract price in July as of Friday last week were noted at $1.28-$1.32/lb.

In East Asia, by the way, petroleum-based isobutanol spot price were around 69-71 cents/lb as of last week.

Footnote:
There were several bio-isobutanol studies that came out on several news reports that are worth mentioning here:

New catalyst for the direct conversion of ethanol to isobutene - Green Car Congress

Researchers boost isobutanol production in yeast- Green Car Congress

This news from Amyris is interesting given my article on biobased chemicals for rubber manufacturing published today on ICIS Chemical Business.

Amyris announced today that it has partnered with Japanese chemical company Kuraray to develop high-performance polymers using Amyris' Biofene. The farnesene-based molecule will be used to replace petroleum-derived feedstock such as butadiene and isoprene.

Just a brief review on farnesene - this molecule is a sesquiterpene which are part of a larger class of compound called terpenes (ever heard of turpentine? I think I've mentioned before that Allylix is also working on sesquiterpenes...). Amyris' farnesene is, of course, derived from sugar. I also found out during my research of isoprene (and butadiene) that isoprene is also called isoterpene, and that it's molecular structure is 2-methyl-,1,3 butadiene.

Butadiene and isoprene are actually feedstock for rubber manufacture and are currently produced via petroleum refining although isoprene is more of a specialty type of chemical and not produced in large volumes. According to internet sources, natural rubber is a polymer of isoprene--most often cis-1,4-polyisoprene.

Amyris filed a patent last year in June about the production of a farnesene interpolymer derived from a farnesene and at least a vinyl monomer. As I've mentioned before, I'm not a chemist so I should leave the explanation of this invention to experts although I think there might be some nuggets of information here that can help explain what Amyris is up to in terms of using its Biofene to produce butadiene and isoprene-based high-performance polymers.

Also don't forget to check out my ICB article that features bio-based butadiene and isoprene.

German chemical company BASF and Dutch starch derivatives manufacturer Purac (a subsidiary of CSM) finally laid out their business plans for their bio-succinic acid collaboration and announced today that they are aiming to be the first commercial bio-succinic acid producer in the market with a 25,000 tons/year capacity that will be located in Purac's site near Barcelona, Spain.

The companies have been collaborating on bio-based succinic acid since 2009 using the microorganism Basfia succiniciproducens, which they said is a natural producer of succinic acid and can process a wide variety of C3, C5 and C6 renewable feedstocks, including biomass sources.

BASF and Purac are currently negotiating on the formation of a joint venture to compete with other bio-succinic acid players such as Myriant (which just filed its IPO), BioAmber (which just formed a supply collaboration with Mitsubishi Chemical), and DSM (which formed a bio-succinic acid JV called Reverdia with French starch chem company Roquette last year).

BASF and Purac intends to start its bio-succinic acid plant by 2013 at the latest. The companies are also planning a world-scale plant with a capacity of 50,000 tons/year although no timeline has yet been announced for this project.

Here are several current production activities on bio-succinic acid commercialization:

• DSM and Roquette to open commercial scale 10,000 tonnes/year bio-based succinic acid plant in 2012 in Cassano Spinola, Italy. Reverdia is currently producing 300 tonnes/year of bio-succinic acid at a demonstration plant in France.

• Myriant is currently building its 30m lb/year (13,612 tonnes/year) bio-succinic acid plant in Louisiana, US. The plant is expected to start in the first quarter of 2013. Myriant also plans to expand production to 170m lbs/year by the end of first quarter of 2014 as well as in the early stages of planning other production facilities in Germany and Asia.

• BioAmber is finalizing its plans for a 20,000 tonne/year plant in North America and expects to start building this year and commission the facility in the first half of 2013. The company has a 2,000 tonne/year bio-succinic acid demonstration plant in Pomacle, France.