41
FUELS & LUBES INTERNATIONAL
Quarter Four 2014
lubricants, copolymers and others,
such as personal care products and
artificial sweeteners. Increasing
automobile demand, along with
industrial developments in emerg-
ing markets, will boost lubricant
additives’ use of maleic anhydride
in this segment. Increasing demand
for bio-based chemicals to replace
petroleum-based maleic anhydride
may become a lucrative profit
center for these companies.
Bioamber raised USD80 million
when it made an initial public
offering (IPO) in May 2013. It re-
cently announced plans to build a
plant in Sarnia, Canada, which will
have a capacity of 30,000 metric
tonnes (MT) per year. Overall, they
feel that this company is in it for
the long haul.
Dodds said that Genomatica,
based in San Diego, Calif., USA,
which produces bio-based BDO, an
intermediate chemical used in every-
day products, including athletic ap-
parel, running shoes, electronics and
automotive applications, has a strong
intellectual property and process. Its
process has been licensed by Ger-
many’s BASF and Italy’s Novamont.
In addition, it has been tested and
used successfully by several multina-
tional companies making polymers,
fibers andmaterials with the same
properties as petro-BDO. Thus, it
can be used as a drop-in replacement
to make downstreammaterials. Ge-
nomatica is also developing processes
for other chemicals. The next process
that has been announced is for buta-
diene with Versalis and Braskem as its
partners.
Deinove, based in Grabels,
France, uses genetically modified
bacteria, Deinococcus, making
it into de-facto micro-factories
to produce second-generation
biofuels (cellulosic bioethanol). Its
process uses wheat-based biomass
as feedstock. The transformation
to ethanol requires no additives.
Deinove says its process allows
them to make products at lower
costs and lower maintenance
requirements and that its process
is highly reproducible.
Endophytics is also still in
the very early stage; the panelists
say that they are still struggling
to understand exactly what the
company does. What is clear is that
it falls within the same realm as
Deinove. Endophytes are organ-
isms that live within plants between
their cells. Currently, the company
seems largely to be operating on
yeast technology, which most likely
involves a novel organism.
Anellotech, headquartered in
Pearl River, N.Y., USA, produces
benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX)
using lignocellulosic waste materials
from a variety of sources such as
corn stover, sugar cane bagasse,
empty fruit bunch and forestry
products using a zeolite-based
catalyst. Its product can be used for
a wide range of end products from
commercial products such as nylons
and plastics to green fuels, olefins
and other BTX derivatives. Toluene
and xylene can also be mixed into
conventional gasoline to improve
octane ratings.
Two important questions need to
be answered: What are they displac-
ing? How are they performing?
When looking at drop-ins, it is im-
portant to demonstrate both good
economics and good technology
and prove that the bio-based prod-
uct meets all the specifications for
the existing petro-based product.
“Stranded methane” is currently
a big problem, and Calysta, head-
quartered in Menlo Park, Calif.,
USA, is focused on addressing it.
However, the panelists think things
are still at an early stage and that
many questions remain. The panel-
ists wanted to know more about
their fermentation process, produc-
tion process and catalyst. They felt
that this was not a new idea but that
it has value. There are also many
strategies for converting methane,
and Calysta is just the first of many
they expect to go after this angle.
Methane is essentially one of
the lowest-cost feedstock, so us-
ing methane will mean reducing
atmospheric levels of methane, a
greenhouse gas, thereby improving
the environment while reducing
costs. Methane contributes more
than 20 times more to greenhouse
gases than carbon dioxide per
molecule. However, this process
still relies on natural gas, which is
technically non-renewable although
Calysta calls it sustainable.
Global Bioenergies, based in
France, produces isobutene, which
is used in high-volume products like
gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and indus-
trial lubricants. Global Bioenergies
believes that alternate production
methods of isobutene would ease
the current shortage and help satisfy
the current market for this product,
which they estimate to be between
USD25 and 30 billion. However, it
might be possible for them to make
their products cheaper and better.
The company has taken deliberate,
methodical steps to get to where
they are today. This may sound like
a negative, but, according to Dodds,
this is what investment houses with
their act together should want a
start-up to do. Lane feels like they
still have a long way to go to achieve
their potential. Dodds remarked
that the jet fuel market seems to be
embracing green jet fuel, especially
the big airlines. It may be due to the
fact that in the future, regulations
on greenhouse gas emissions will
likely become more stringent and
there will be various carbon caps/
exchanges, taxes and other legisla-
tions put in place in different coun-
tries. Accordingly, big international
airlines are being proactive now.
The companies the panelists
discussed all presented interest-
ing technologies using renewable
feedstock, except for Calysta, which
uses stranded methane, and there
was a wide range of applications.
Although not all of the companies
have proven their mettle in the
market, their innovative approaches
and products may find success as
demand increases for bio-based
chemicals, biofuels, bio-lubricants
and other bio-based consumer
products in the near future.
