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