World’s first biobased DDDA plant construction begins in Malaysia
The construction of VerdePalm plant, the first
commercial-scale renewable chemicals manufacturing facility of Verdezyne, has officially started. The groundbreaking
ceremony was held on July 30th (see press release). The new facility is designed to
produce biobased long chain diacids. The first product manufactured at
VerdePalm will be dodecanedioic acid (DDDA), a 12-carbon diacid that is a
component of many consumer products currently made from petroleum.
Project datasheet:
Location
|
Bio-XCell Malaysia Park in Nusajaya (Iskandar, southern
Malaysia).
It is
a 160 acres (65 ha) biotechnology park dedicated to biobased industry located
within the Southern Industrial Logistics Cluster (SiLC). It is developed by
Malaysian Bio-XCell Sdn Bhd, a joint venture company formed between Malaysian
Bioeconomy Development Corporation and UEM Sunrise Bhd in 2009.
|
Technology
|
Fermentation
with Verdezyne’s proprietary yeast.
The
starting yeast will be made from the spent biomass that results from palm oil
processing.
|
Feedstock
|
Crude
palm oil and palm byproducts as well as other plant-based raw materials.
|
Products
and production capacity
|
6,000
metric tons of industrial grade DDDA each year.
|
Timeline
|
It is expected to be completed in 12-18
months.
|
Figure 1. Bio-XCell Malaysia Park (extracted
from its web page). It will host VerdePalm facility.
DDDA is traditionally produced from butadiene via a
multi-step chemical process. It is used in the manufacturing of high-performance
nylon 6,12 molding resins, adhesives and powder coatings. Also, it is a main
building block of FerroShieldTM, Verdezyne’s nitrate-free dibasic
acid mixture used in a variety of corrosion inhibitor applications (metalworking
fluids, engine coolants, metal cleaners, die cast release agents and aqueous
hydraulic fluids). Marketing of FerroShield was launched in February of this
year. E. William Radany, President and CEO of Verdezyne,
said on this topic: “The rust inhibition
industry is in need of a high-performing dibasic acid mixture that can be
easily incorporated into existing customer formulas. We foresee strong demand
for FerroShield in a number of countries in Asia and Europe as well as in the
U.S. and Canada.”