University of Massachusetts Amherst chemical engineers report in Science that they have developed a way to produce high-volume platform chemicals including benzene, toluene, xylenes and olefins from cheap oils produced via pyrolysis of renewable biomass. These chemicals are used in a variety of applications such as solvents, dyes and plastics, and at present are usually produced from petrochemicals.
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at UMass Amherst, George Huber:
"Thanks to this breakthrough, we can meet the need to make commodity chemical feedstocks entirely through processing pyrolysis oils. We are making the same molecules from biomass that are currently being produced from petroleum, with no infrastructure changes required. We think this technology will provide a big boost to the economy because pyrolysis oils are commercially available now. The major difference between our approach and the current method is the feedstock; our process uses a renewable feedstock, that is, plant biomass. Rather than purchasing petroleum to make these chemicals, we use pyrolysis oils made from non-food agricultural crops and woody biomass grown domestically. This will also provide United States farmers and landowners a large additional revenue stream. But here we show how to achieve three times higher yields of chemicals from pyrolysis oil than ever achieved before. We've essentially provided a roadmap for converting low-value pyrolysis oils into products with a higher value than transportation fuels."
The research represents an innovation in the processing of bio-oils; this is already possible for these applications however this development reduces the cost involved to make the process more commercially attractive. While production of the bio-oil feedstock is cheap, an extra processing step is needed to convert the bio-oils into a usable form; the oxygen content of these oils is high making them acidic and corrosive, this oxygen must be removed. This step has been the cause of the extra cost, until now.
A hydrogenation step removes excess oxygen from the oils. This enhances the stability of the oils in preparation for conversion into the starting chemicals for production of toluene, benzene, xylene, ethylene and propylene using a zeolite catalyst. The process can be varied to direct the reaction toward particular products. These five chemicals are some of the major starting chemicals used in the $400 billion US chemicals industry. The economics of the process and its variations are also considered in detail.
A pilot plant at the University is running this process a liter scale, and Huber has also created a start-up company named Anellotech Corp. to commercialize the process.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Arkema’s Growing Polyamide Production in China: Expanding Market for Bio-Based Rilsan and Rilsamid as Well?
French-based Arkema, specialists in vinyl chemicals, industrial chemicals and performance products, have announced that they will be tripling their capacity for production of polyamides at its facilities in China by 2013. The press release is available here.
Growing markets for polyamides in Asia are one of the reasons for this.Among the production increases are bio- sourced polyamide brands Rilsan and Rilsamid; both of which exhibithigh thermal and chemical stability and physical strength. They are often used for anti-corrosion coatings, pipes and brake circuits, and are suitable for many other applications.
Managing Director of Arkema’sTechnical Polymers Business Unit, Frédéric Marot-Achillas, comments:
“The capacity increase of our Changes site illustrates our long-term commitment to our customers in the Chinese and Asian markets. It will help boost our leading position in the high performance polyamide markets, while also providing our customers with local service from our competitive platform in Changes”
Increased production of bio-sourced Risen in particular is interesting, as this reflects Arkoma’s sustainability focus. As Arkoma is a leader in many of markets in which it operates, combined with China’s sizable manufacturing industry, it follows that these products will see significant market penetration.
Growing markets for polyamides in Asia are one of the reasons for this.Among the production increases are bio- sourced polyamide brands Rilsan and Rilsamid; both of which exhibithigh thermal and chemical stability and physical strength. They are often used for anti-corrosion coatings, pipes and brake circuits, and are suitable for many other applications.
Managing Director of Arkema’sTechnical Polymers Business Unit, Frédéric Marot-Achillas, comments:
“The capacity increase of our Changes site illustrates our long-term commitment to our customers in the Chinese and Asian markets. It will help boost our leading position in the high performance polyamide markets, while also providing our customers with local service from our competitive platform in Changes”
Increased production of bio-sourced Risen in particular is interesting, as this reflects Arkoma’s sustainability focus. As Arkoma is a leader in many of markets in which it operates, combined with China’s sizable manufacturing industry, it follows that these products will see significant market penetration.
Investors Representing over $15 Trillion Call for U.S and International Action on Climate Change: Summary
Investors Representing over $15 Trillion Call for U.S and International Action on Climate Change: Summary
Full article available from Biofuels Journal.
Global investors have made a strong [linkstatement] ahead of climate negotiations in Cancun. “Take action now in the fight against global warming or risk economic disruptions far more severe than the recent financial crisis.”
The statement was signed by 259 investors from around the world including HSBC, public pension funds and state treasurers collectively worth over $15 trillion. They demand stronger policies at the national and international level to encourage investment in low carbon technologies on the grounds of climate change reducing GDP 20% by 2050 and the benefits that efficient use of resources can bring. The release of the statement was timed to precede climate change negotiations in Cancun beginning on November 29th to draw up a new treaty following the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol in 2010. It is expected that there will be no agreement reached in Cancun.
Chairman of the Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change and chief of Research and Strategy at the Danish pension fund ATP, Ole Beier Sørensen:
"Experiences from a number of countries around the world show how structured policies can bolster investor confidence, help ramp up renewable energy investments, bring technologies down the cost curve and thereby eventually strengthen their competitiveness.”
Global clean energy investments are increasing, but are far short of what the Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the World Economic Forum says is needed annually by 2020 to restrict warming to 2 degrees. Global investment is predicted to exceed $200 billion in 2010, $500 billion is the figure needed. North America is behind the rest of the world in this regard: for example the US invested $20.7 billion in renewable energy projects in 2009, Europe invested $43.7 billion and Asia invested $40.8 billion. Opposition in congress is a factor in this disparity, but perhaps the collective voice of these investors will help sway support here.
The statement recommends a range of policies to be adopted, ranging from green house gas reduction targets, to greater promotion of low carbon technology by governments to establishing climate change concerns as market forces. Wide scale adoption of these recommendations would be a boon to mitigating climate change and in turn to advancing green chemistry, but how much impact they have on the real world will be seen in Cancun.
Full article available from Biofuels Journal.
Global investors have made a strong [linkstatement] ahead of climate negotiations in Cancun. “Take action now in the fight against global warming or risk economic disruptions far more severe than the recent financial crisis.”
The statement was signed by 259 investors from around the world including HSBC, public pension funds and state treasurers collectively worth over $15 trillion. They demand stronger policies at the national and international level to encourage investment in low carbon technologies on the grounds of climate change reducing GDP 20% by 2050 and the benefits that efficient use of resources can bring. The release of the statement was timed to precede climate change negotiations in Cancun beginning on November 29th to draw up a new treaty following the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol in 2010. It is expected that there will be no agreement reached in Cancun.
Chairman of the Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change and chief of Research and Strategy at the Danish pension fund ATP, Ole Beier Sørensen:
"Experiences from a number of countries around the world show how structured policies can bolster investor confidence, help ramp up renewable energy investments, bring technologies down the cost curve and thereby eventually strengthen their competitiveness.”
Global clean energy investments are increasing, but are far short of what the Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the World Economic Forum says is needed annually by 2020 to restrict warming to 2 degrees. Global investment is predicted to exceed $200 billion in 2010, $500 billion is the figure needed. North America is behind the rest of the world in this regard: for example the US invested $20.7 billion in renewable energy projects in 2009, Europe invested $43.7 billion and Asia invested $40.8 billion. Opposition in congress is a factor in this disparity, but perhaps the collective voice of these investors will help sway support here.
The statement recommends a range of policies to be adopted, ranging from green house gas reduction targets, to greater promotion of low carbon technology by governments to establishing climate change concerns as market forces. Wide scale adoption of these recommendations would be a boon to mitigating climate change and in turn to advancing green chemistry, but how much impact they have on the real world will be seen in Cancun.
Rubber Durability Research Grant and Bio-Isoprene Prospects
Trelleborg Automotive, specialists in polymer-based acoustic solutions for the automotive industry, has been awarded funding by the French Government's Ministry of Research and Higher Education to research the durability of rubber-based car parts. This research could result in improvements in the durability of both synthetic and bio-sourced rubber, and therefore have a positive impact on its life-cycle.
The research project will investigate the correlation between fatigue cracks and the dispersal of carbon black particles within the isoprene polymer matrix. The project will involve the study of multi-phase materials and will examine the impact of the mixing, injection and mold design process on rubber durability. The four-year research programme will see Trelleborg work in partnership with ENSIETA, Engineering School in Brest, Lorient-based UBS University, the French Rubber and Plastics Laboratory, and Ecole Centrale de Nantes.
Trelleborg Automotive Research Manager, Pierre Charrier:
"Improving the durability of parts and reducing whole life costs is a key concern for the automotive industry and our R&D team is continually developing new solutions to help the industry achieve these goals. The grant will enable us to dedicate significant resource to this project, which in addition to delivering material insights, could have real financial benefits for the automotive industry."
The four-year research programme will see Trelleborg work in partnership with ENSIETA, Engineering School in Brest, Lorient-based UBS University, the French Rubber and Plastics Laboratory, and Ecole Centrale de Nantes.
What could this research mean for the biopolymers sector?
In 2005 approximately 40% of all rubber sold was natural as opposed to petrochemical-derived and this percentage fluctuates with the price of oil. Synthetic rubber is produced by polymerizing isoprene, a byproduct of thermally cracking oil. With rising oil prices and depletion, natural rubber, both directly sourced and “bio-converted”, will play a greater role in the marketplace in future. This is already beginning to happen: bio- sourced isoprene has been used in a joint project between Goodyear and Genencor in production of a recent line of tires, with the aim of reducing their dependency of oil in the production process. Other companies are also targeting bio-based isoprene as a platform chemical (including GlycosBio at its new Malaysia biorefinery). Natural, directly sourced rubber has the problem of being more variable in quality than synthetic rubber; it might even be considered unsuitable for some applications because of this. (This provides an additional opening or value proposition for the incursion of bio-isoprene?)
The implications are that a longer product lifetime could directly benefit safety as well as sustainability and performance of these polymers in life cycle analysis. Many products (such as seals) made from rubber are used for safety or protective purposes, the failure of which can have damaging consequences not just to the user but to the supplier’s public image and even insurance risk rating. Added durability here could not only save users some replacement costs, but improve performance and give added peace of mind. An increase in the performance of rubber could also widen the applications in which bio-sourced rubber is used.
The research project will investigate the correlation between fatigue cracks and the dispersal of carbon black particles within the isoprene polymer matrix. The project will involve the study of multi-phase materials and will examine the impact of the mixing, injection and mold design process on rubber durability. The four-year research programme will see Trelleborg work in partnership with ENSIETA, Engineering School in Brest, Lorient-based UBS University, the French Rubber and Plastics Laboratory, and Ecole Centrale de Nantes.
Trelleborg Automotive Research Manager, Pierre Charrier:
"Improving the durability of parts and reducing whole life costs is a key concern for the automotive industry and our R&D team is continually developing new solutions to help the industry achieve these goals. The grant will enable us to dedicate significant resource to this project, which in addition to delivering material insights, could have real financial benefits for the automotive industry."
The four-year research programme will see Trelleborg work in partnership with ENSIETA, Engineering School in Brest, Lorient-based UBS University, the French Rubber and Plastics Laboratory, and Ecole Centrale de Nantes.
What could this research mean for the biopolymers sector?
In 2005 approximately 40% of all rubber sold was natural as opposed to petrochemical-derived and this percentage fluctuates with the price of oil. Synthetic rubber is produced by polymerizing isoprene, a byproduct of thermally cracking oil. With rising oil prices and depletion, natural rubber, both directly sourced and “bio-converted”, will play a greater role in the marketplace in future. This is already beginning to happen: bio- sourced isoprene has been used in a joint project between Goodyear and Genencor in production of a recent line of tires, with the aim of reducing their dependency of oil in the production process. Other companies are also targeting bio-based isoprene as a platform chemical (including GlycosBio at its new Malaysia biorefinery). Natural, directly sourced rubber has the problem of being more variable in quality than synthetic rubber; it might even be considered unsuitable for some applications because of this. (This provides an additional opening or value proposition for the incursion of bio-isoprene?)
The implications are that a longer product lifetime could directly benefit safety as well as sustainability and performance of these polymers in life cycle analysis. Many products (such as seals) made from rubber are used for safety or protective purposes, the failure of which can have damaging consequences not just to the user but to the supplier’s public image and even insurance risk rating. Added durability here could not only save users some replacement costs, but improve performance and give added peace of mind. An increase in the performance of rubber could also widen the applications in which bio-sourced rubber is used.
Bio-based Chemicals Market $7 Billion by 2015, New Study Says
The Biorenewable chemicals market will grow to $7 billion by 2015, more than double the predicted value of the market in 2011, according to a new study from SBI Energy.
Platform and intermediate bio-based chemicals are projected to make up most of the growth. The US and the EU are the two biggest players, with 22% and 19% of market activity respectively. China is a big player in glycerin and lactic acid, but has not yet expanded greatly into other biorenewable chemicals.
Platform chemicals (glycerin and lactic acid making up 96%) will constitute two-thirds of the market, and will achieve a compound annual growth rate of 22% for the five years to a value of $4 billion by 2015. This growth will be initially slower, gathering momentum later on in that 5-year period.
Intermediate chemicals will make up the remainder of growth, growing faster than the platform chemicals segment with a compound annual growth rate of 33% over the same period reaching a value of almost $3 billion in 2015. Several important products make up this segment; ethylene, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), polylactide (PLA) and 1,3-propanediol (PDO). Annual production of PLA is expected to double, PDO is expected to triple and PHA is expected to quadruple until 2015. Ethylene will be the largest seller by volume, but the high production cost (and therefore cost at market) of PHA will mean that revenue is highest from PHA sales.
SBI Energy analyst, Robert Eckhard:
"The ever increasing price of oil is not the only driver pushing sales in the biorenewable chemicals market. In the near term, more support within regulations and legislations for funding and research and development is key to keeping the biorenewable chemicals market a lively and growing concern."
2010 has been a good year for platform biorenewable chemicals, with total sales expected to reach an estimated $1.8 billion. This is an 11% increase from 2009 when a drop in glycerin prices damaged revenue. Despite this drop, strong growth in the lactic acid market gives the segment a CAGR of 12% from 2006 to 2010. Intermediate biorenewable chemicals are predicted to reach approximately $575 million in 2010 as all categories within the segment (except biobutanol) are expected to grow. Polylactic acid and PHA made up 72% of the market in 2009.
Platform and intermediate bio-based chemicals are projected to make up most of the growth. The US and the EU are the two biggest players, with 22% and 19% of market activity respectively. China is a big player in glycerin and lactic acid, but has not yet expanded greatly into other biorenewable chemicals.
Platform chemicals (glycerin and lactic acid making up 96%) will constitute two-thirds of the market, and will achieve a compound annual growth rate of 22% for the five years to a value of $4 billion by 2015. This growth will be initially slower, gathering momentum later on in that 5-year period.
Intermediate chemicals will make up the remainder of growth, growing faster than the platform chemicals segment with a compound annual growth rate of 33% over the same period reaching a value of almost $3 billion in 2015. Several important products make up this segment; ethylene, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), polylactide (PLA) and 1,3-propanediol (PDO). Annual production of PLA is expected to double, PDO is expected to triple and PHA is expected to quadruple until 2015. Ethylene will be the largest seller by volume, but the high production cost (and therefore cost at market) of PHA will mean that revenue is highest from PHA sales.
SBI Energy analyst, Robert Eckhard:
"The ever increasing price of oil is not the only driver pushing sales in the biorenewable chemicals market. In the near term, more support within regulations and legislations for funding and research and development is key to keeping the biorenewable chemicals market a lively and growing concern."
2010 has been a good year for platform biorenewable chemicals, with total sales expected to reach an estimated $1.8 billion. This is an 11% increase from 2009 when a drop in glycerin prices damaged revenue. Despite this drop, strong growth in the lactic acid market gives the segment a CAGR of 12% from 2006 to 2010. Intermediate biorenewable chemicals are predicted to reach approximately $575 million in 2010 as all categories within the segment (except biobutanol) are expected to grow. Polylactic acid and PHA made up 72% of the market in 2009.
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