Green Biologics starts shipments of biobutanol and acetone from its Little Falls biorefinery
During the first decades of the past
century, ABE fermentative process was widely utilized to produce n-butanol using
strains of bacteria from the class Clostridia.
However, it began to experience a decline by the 1960´s and, since that time,
most butanol is produced commercially from fossil fuels. At present, several
players involved in the biobutanol production are developing modifications of
the original ABE process (learn more about biobutanol
biorefineries). Green Biologics
Ltd (GBL), a UK industrial biotechnology and renewable specialty chemicals
company, is one of them. GBL is focusing on metabolic engineering of the Clostridium strains to optimize the
yield of n-butanol. And, it has taken significant steps in the right direction.
Last one, the start of commercial shipments of biobutanol and acetone from its
manufacturing facility in Minnesota (see press release). Both
butanol and acetone products carry the brand name BioPure™ and have
recently received USDA
BioPreferred® status.
Just a year ago, the blog reported the
beginning
of the retrofit works in the Little Falls biorefinery (MN, USA). The
existing manufacturing site (an ethanol plant), formerly known as The Central
MN Ethanol Cooperative (CMEC), was acquired by GBL in December 2014 and
re-named as Central MN Renewables (CMR). The 21 million gallon-per-year ethanol
plant has been retrofitted with Green Biologics’proprietary advanced
fermentation technology to produce biobutanol and acetone. Now, the facility is
running and the production is expected to ramp up to full capacity over the
next twelve to eighteen months.
Figure 1. Partial view of Central MN
Renewables (extracted from GBL press release)
“The start of our first commercial facility is a
critical milestone in building our position within the industry as a global
renewable speciality chemicals company”, said Sean Sutcliffe, Chief Executive
of GBL. “We’re very proud to announce the start of shipments to key customers
in high value markets and look forward to working with existing and new collaborators
to bring a wide range of sustainable, environmentally-friendly products to
shelves.” Over the past year, GBL has built a robust pipeline of domestic and
export customers combined with multiple partnerships to bring its products to
downstream markets. These include distribution agreements with Acme Hardesty, Nexeo Solutions and Caldic as well as a strategic partnership with HOC Industries.
