September 30th 2016 saw the official opening of the world’s first industrial bio-butanediol plant. With a feedstock based directly on sugars that are broken down by bacteria, the development marks a major step in providing an alternative to fossil fuel chemical feedstock.
Better still, the original plan was to produce 18,000 tonnes per annum capacity has been increased to 30,000 tonnes as demand for renewable polymer materials grows. Currently production is focused on producing wrapping films for fruit and vegetables that, like the products they protect, are both biodegradable and compostable. The plant will also produce 1,4 BDO for the manufacturing of coffee capsules, although the facility will produce polymer feedstock for numerous plastic products.
The new plant is run by the company Mater-Biotech, which in turn is 100% owned by Novamont, and expects to reach full production some time in 2017.
The opening was announced in a Novamont press release that explained how the plant, “Represents an investment of over €100 million. The Mater-Biotech plant in Bottrighe [70km south of Venice] will be the world’s first industrial plant dedicated to the production of bio-butanediol (BDO). It will produce 30,000 tonnes/year of low-impact BDO, with savings of more than 50% in terms of CO2 emissions, thus helping achieve a ‘low carbon society’.”
The plant was designed in collaboration with the California based firm Genomatica, which rightly boasts on its website how, “The new BDO plant uses Genomatica’s GENO BDO™ process technology to convert sugars to BDO. Genomatica’s licensed technology enables production of a bio-BDO that can be used the same way as conventional, while delivering better economics and sustainability.”
You can see more of the new plant on this YouTube video here.
It also seems that this plant will be just the first of many, as the GreenChemicalsBlog website reports that, “BASF also has a licensing deal with Genomatica for its bio-BDO process, with the potential to build up to 75 ktpa commercial plants that can be based on dextrose or sucrose for feedstock. BASF’s license agreement with Genomatica includes production of bio-BDO in North America and certain countries in Southeast Asia.”
Currently, global demand for butanediol is 1.5 million tonnes per year (with a value of €3.5 billion), but as demand for solvents, polyurethanes, polymers and plastic grows then demand for butanediol is expected to reach as much as 2.7 million by 2020. With a value of €6.5 billion, this enormous market growth may well see a similar growth in bio-butanediol facilities.