GLOBAL BIOENERGIES: First production of isobutene from wheat straw at demo scale
February 06 2019 - 11:38AM
First production of isobutene from wheat straw
at demo scale
New phase for the H2020 Optisochem project
after 18 months of activity
Sugars from wheat straw produced at Clariant's
Sunliquid® pre-commercial plant have been shipped to Global
Bioenergies' Leuna demo plant
Successful test runs for production of
straw-based isobutene, batches delivered to INEOS for
evaluation
Evry (France), 06 February 2019 -
Global Bioenergies today announces that runs using wheat straw
hydrolysate provided by its partner Clariant were successfully
performed in its Leuna demo plant, leading to the production of
cellulosic isobutene for the first time at this scale. These runs
were part of OPTISOCHEM, a project which started in June 2017 and
was granted €9.8 million by the Bio Based Industry- Joint
Undertaking (BBI-JU) as part of the H2020 program. The aim of the
project is to demonstrate a new value chain combining Global
Bioenergies bio-Isobutene process with technologies developed by
Clariant and INEOS, two of Europe's leading chemical companies:
currently underutilized residual wheat straw has been converted at
demo scale into second generation renewable bio-isobutene, and will
eventually be transformed into oligomers and polymers usable in
lubricants, rubbers, cosmetics, solvents, plastics, or fuels
applications. The intense R&D cooperation will continue until
May 2021.
OPTISOCHEM focuses on the demonstration of a new
value chain, based on the combination of the technologies and
know-how of the participants from four EU member states:
- Conversion of straw into glucose- and xylose-rich hydrolysates
by Clariant sunliquid® technology (Germany),
- Fermentation of the straw hydrolysates into bio-isobutene by
Global Bioenergies (France and Germany),
- Conversion of bio-isobutene into oligomers and polymers by
INEOS (Germany and France),
- Preliminary engineering of an hydrolysate-to-isobutene plant
and overall integration with a straw-to-hydrolysate plant, by
TechnipFMC and IPSB (France), and
- Assessment of the sustainability and environmental benefits by
the Energy Institute at the JKU Linz (Austria).
The BBI-JU, a public-private partnership between
the European Union and the Bio-Industries Consortium (BIC), is
dedicated to realizing the European bio-economy potential, turning
biological residues and wastes into greener everyday products
through innovative technologies and bio-refineries expected to
become the heart of the bio-economy.
The BBI-JU selected this project under the name
OPTISOCHEM (N°744330), in the frame of the European HORIZON 2020
programme for research and innovation, following a very selective
and competitive process led by independent experts.
Markus Rarbach, Head of Biofuels &
Derivatives of Clariant comments: "OPTISOCHEM is demonstrating a
key value chain within the bio-economy: advanced bio-refineries
based on agricultural residues. From our pre-commercial plant in
Straubing (Germany) we have supplied cellulosic sugars in tons
scale to Global Bioenergies' facilities for conversion to
bio-isobutene during the first period of the project. We are very
pleased with the excellent results from all partners and will
continue to provide additional quantities in the next phases so as
to prepare for eventual commercial production in the future."
Frederic Pâques, COO of Global Bioenergies
declares: "During this first period, we successfully increased the
performances of our micro-organism on traditional substrate such as
sucrose and adapted our best microbial chassis to straw
hydrolysates. We successfully run our pilot facility in Pomacle
(France) and our Demo facility in Leuna (Germany) both with straw
hydrolysate and sucrose as a benchmark. We expect to produce
several tons of bio-isobutene on this new non-conventional
feedstock in the remaining periods of the project"
Jean-François Boideau, EMEA Commercial General
Manager at INEOS Oligomers, said: "Our sites have over fifty years
of experience in the production of oligomers and polymers of
isobutene which are used in lubricants, rubbers, cosmetics,
plastics, solvents, and fuels. To date, we received several batches
of bio-isobutene from Global Bioenergies for qualification
purpose, and the quality is promising. During the next phase of the
project, INEOS is ready to evaluate conversion of additional
quantities of bio-isobutene into downstream products in order to
assess the potential of this bio-based feedstock as a building
block for end consumer applications."
This project has received funding from the Bio
Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union's
Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant
agreement No 744330
Disclaimer: this press release reflect only the
author's view and the BBI-JU is not responsible for any use that
may be made of the information it contains
http://www.optisochem.eu
About GLOBAL BIOENERGIES
Global Bioenergies is one of the few companies
worldwide, and the only one in Europe, that is developing a process
to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons. The Company
initially focused its efforts on the production of isobutene, one
of the most important petrochemical building blocks that can be
converted into gasoline, jet fuel, cosmetic ingredients, plastics
and elastomers. Global Bioenergies continues to improve the
performance of its process, to operate its demo plant in Germany,
and to prepare the first full-scale plant through a joint venture
with Cristal Union, named IBN-One. Global Bioenergies is listed on
Euronext Growth Paris (FR0011052257 - ALGBE)
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Contact
GLOBAL BIOENERGIESBernard ChaudDirector of
Industrial StrategyPhone:
+33 (0)1 64 98 20 50Email: invest@global-bioenergies.com
- GLOBAL BIOENERGIES PRESS RELEASE.pdf
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