ENGINEERINGNET.EU - Evonik Industries recently agreed with US based BioAmber on a long term cooperation for the development and manufacturing of catalysts for making BDO (1,4- butanediol), THF (tetrahydrofuran) and GBL (gamma - butyrolactone) from bio-based succinic acid.
BioAmber is a manufacturer of bio-succinic acid from renewable feedstock. Bio-succinic acid is a platform chemical that can be used to make a number of products currently made from petrochemicals.
Presenty the company operates the world’s only dedicated production plant for bio-succinic acid in France with a 350,000 liter commercial scale fermenter.
But together with Mitsui & Co it has also broken ground in Canada on a 17,000 metric ton bio-succinic acid plant with plans to expand capacity to 34,000 metric tons of succinic acid, and a 23,000 metric tons BDO plant in late 2014. And there are also plans to build additional succinic acid and BDO plants with Mitsui & Co.
“Through our collaboration with Evonik, we have secured the expertise and capabilities we need to rapidly bring competitive BDO and THF technology to market,” said Jean-Francois Huc, BioAmber CEO.
