Myriant announces start-up of flagship plant in Lake Providence

Myriant Corp., with headquarters in Quincy, Mass., U.S.A., announced the start-up of its flagship bio-succinic acid plant located in Lake Providence, La. The plant is the first of its kind and scale in North America, with an annual nameplate production capacity of 30 million pounds.
“As is always the case when bringing chemical plants online, it will take some time to achieve our full production rate, but we are confident about the reliability of our core technology platform,” said Myriant CEO Stephen Gatto.
The plant was partially funded through a US$50 million cost sharing cooperative agreement received from the U.S. Department of Energy, US$25 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture B&I Loan Guarantee Program and a US$10 million grant from the Lake Providence Port Commission and the Louisiana Department of Transportation.
Globally, the annual worldwide market for succinic acid is approximately US$7.5 billion in new and existing applications. Succinic acid is traditionally produced from petroleum and can be used in a wide variety of applications, including polymers, urethanes, plasticizers and coatings.