Caserta Levulinic Acid Plant

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Nombre / Name
Caserta Levulinic Acid Plant
Empresa / Company
GFBiochemicals  (gfbiochemicals.com)
Localización / Location
Caserta (Italy)
Categoría / Category
Comercial / Commercial
Estado / Status
Operación / Running
Plataformas / Platform
Azúcares C5/C6 / C5/C6-sugars
Materia prima / Feedstock
Biomasa celulósica / Cellulosic biomass
Producto / Product
Ácido levulínico  / Levulinic acid
Puesta en marcha de la producción comercial / Commercial production start-Up
Verano 2015 / Summer 2015

GFBiochemicals es la primera empresa en producir ácido levulínico a escala comercial a partir de biomasa. La producción comercial comenzó en el verano de 2015 en su Planta de Caserta, la planta de ácido levulínico más grande del mundo. La planta será escalada a su capacidad total de 10.000 toneladas métricas al año en 2017.  GFBiochemicals is the first company to produce levulinic acid at commercial scale directly from biomass. The commercial production started in the summer of 2015 in its Caserta Plant, the world’s largest commercial-scale levulinic acid plant. It will scale up to full capacity of 10,000 MT/y by 2017.

El proceso utiliza un reactor con una tecnología que permite flexibilizar el tipo de materia prima. Se puede aprovechar un amplio rango de materias primas biomásicas, incluyendo residuos celulósicos. GFBiochemicals también ha desarrollado una nueva tecnología para la recuperación y purificación de ácido levulínico. Durante el procedo se generan y se recuperan ácido fórmico y carbón vegetal. El proceso combina altos rendimientos, alta productividad, corrientes de proceso concentradas y una recuperación eficiente. The process has a reactor technology which allows feedstock flexibility. A wide range of biomass can be used, including cellulosic waste. GFBiochemicals also developed a new technology for the recovery and purification of levulinic acid. The continuous process produces formic acid and char which are recovered. This leads to a combination of high product yields, high productivity, concentrated process streams and efficient recovery.

Figure 1. Levulinic acid production process diagram (extracted from GFBiochemicals webpage)

GFBiochemicals ha desarrollado una plataforma para la producción de ácido levulínico que posibilitará la fabricación de una gran variedad de productos químicos sostenibles y biocombustibles para mercados nuevos y existentes. GFBiochemicals expandirá su cartera de productos con derivados del ácido levulínico de alto valor añadido y la planta de Caserta se utilizará como centro de innovación para futuras mejoras de la tecnología y el desarrollo de derivados. GFBiochemicals has developed a proprietary technology platform for levulinic acid production that will enable them to manufacture a variety of drop-in and substitute chemicals as well as biofuels for new and existing markets. GFBiochemicals will expand its product portfolio to additional high-value levulinic acid derivatives (gammavalerolactone, methyltetrahydrofuran, 1,4-pentanediol, diphenolic acid,…) and the Caserta plant will be used as an innovation center for further improvements to the technology and the development of derivatives.

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REFERENCIAS / REFERENCES:
1 gfbiochemicals.com/technology.html.

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