Sappi to scale-up a technology for xylitol and furfural production in South Africa

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Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.

Last month, Sappi confirmed that it will construct a demonstration plant to further scale-up its novel Xylex® technology for the production of xylitol and furfural (see press release, 18/7/2018).

Location
The plant will be located adjacent to the existing sugars and lignin extraction facility at Sappi’s Ngodwana Mill (South Africa).
The mill produces 330,000 tons of paper pulp, 210,000 tons of dissolving wood pulp (DWP) and 380,000 tons of paper (newsprint and kraft linerboard used for packaging) per year.
Feedstock
C5 sugars.
Products
- Xylitol: Sappi’s strategic intent is to enter the xylitol value chain with a world-scale production plant.
- Furfural: Sappi intends to pursue various partnerships in the furan chemical value chain.
Timeline
- 2016: Investment in a demo plant at Ngodwana Mill to extract hemicellulose sugars and lignin from DWP.
- 2017: The plant was commissioned. After operating for 12 months, the plant has exceeded all efficiency targets for cost, cycle time and yield.
- Later in 2017: Sappi acquires from Plaxica the patented Xylex technology for the hydrolysis and clean-up of C5 sugars.
- July 2018: Sappi confirms the scale-up of the Xylex technology.
- Q1 2019: The new plant will be commissioned.
- Pending successful results and further approvals, it is anticipated that Sappi may construct commercial xylitol and furfural plants adjacent to its mills in the USA and South Africa.

Figure 1. Ngodwana Mill (extracted from Sappi website). Sappi will build its Xylex demo plant adjacent to the existing sugars and lignin extraction facility at this mill.

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