Biorefining highlights 2018
One more year, the Blog has tracked the
biorefining sector giving full visibility to the projects and facilities that
are shaping the circular bioeconomy. And, this is the fifth. Thank you for
following it! I wish you a very prosperous 2019, full of new dreams and achievements.
We are starting the new year by remembering some highlights of the last year,
classified into five main categories.
Cellulosic ethanol
The commercialisation of the cellulosic ethanol
production technologies is still far from the expected. After the great disappointments
of the last years, the sector is in need of vigorous efforts to a definitive
take-off. It may not be enough but there were some important advancements during
2018.
- At
least, two of the three projects whose agreements of intention were signed by
Praj at the end of 2016 received green light during the first months of the
year [Post
1, February; Post
2; May].
- BioMass Solution LLC held the groundbreaking
ceremony of the Red River Biorefinery (Grand Forks, North Dakota). The facility
is based on a sugar beet processing technology developed by Biotechnika. [Post,
August]
- Clariant started the construction of its large-scale
commercial Sunliquid plant in Romania. [Post,
September]
- Versalis acquired Beta Renewables and
Biochemtex. This movement will allow the Italian company to develop an
integrated technological platform of chemicals from biomass based on the
Proesa® technology. [Post,
October]
- ARD purchased the pilot platform of
Procethol-2G, a cellulosic biomass pretreatment unit installed since 2008 on
the Pomacle-Bazancourt biorefinery. [Post,
November]
HVO
Three important announcements at the end of the year confirmed that the sector will continue
to grow in the following years.
- Andeavor (former Tesoro) announced a plan to
retrofit the Dickinson Refinery to process renewable feedstocks with the hydrotreatment
technology developed by Haldor Topsoe. [Post,
September]
- Phillips 66 and Renewable Energy Group reported
their intention of building a large-scale renewable diesel plant on the US West
Coast. [Post,
November]
- Neste Corporation made the final investment
decision on additional renewable production capacity in Singapore. [Post,
December]
Other drop-in
biohydrocarbons
Little by little, advanced biofuels plants
based on new technologies are being deployed. Let us see some interesting
examples of 2018.
- After many years of development, Red Rock
Biofuels LLC (RRB) announced the initiation of the building of its biorefinery
in Oregon. The facility will integrate three processes: gasification, Fischer-Tropsch
and hydroprocessing. [Post,
May]
- SynSel Energy Inc. (SynSel) secured the
capital resources for the construction of an advanced biofuels plant in Ontonagon
(Michigan) utilising a thermocatalytic process. [Post,
May]
- The construction of a demonstration plant for
the production of biofuels from sewage sludge started in Germany. The demo
plant is part of the EU project TO-SYN-FUEL and the technology to be used is TCR
process (Thermo-Catalytic-Reforming). [Post,
November]
Bioplastics
Several facilities were put into operation during
2018. PLA was the main actor.
- ADM and DuPont Industrial Biosciences announced
the opening of the world’s first FDME pilot production facility in Decatur
(Illinois). [Post,
May]
- Bio-on inaugurated its first owned plant
designed to produce 100% natural and biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs)
in Italy. [Post,
June]
- DuPont Industrial Biosciences completed the
expansion of the plant that produces its Sorona biopolymer in North Carolina. [Post,
September]
- Novamont officially opened its
Mater-Biopolymer plant located in Patrica (Italian region of Lazio). [Post,
October]
- Total Corbion PLA put its polylactic acid
polymerization plant at full-scale into operation in Thailand. [Post,
December]
Biobased chemicals
Finally, a mix of news from the biobased
chemicals sector.
- Neste confirmed the start up of the world's
first large-scale renewable propane production facility in its Rotterdam
Biorefinery. [Post,
March]
- Avantium announced the commencement of the
construction of a new plant that will demonstrate the production of biobased
monoethylene glycol (MEG) directly from renewable sugars. [Post,
June]
- Global Bioenergies reached a new milestone in
scaling-up its C3 process converting renewable resources into isopropanol and
acetone. [Post,
June]
- BASF started production of methanol on the
basis of renewable raw materials according to the biomass balance approach that
the company itself has developed. [Post,
November]
- METabolic EXplorer (METEX) announced the closing
of the agreement to finance the construction and operation of its PDO/BA
(1,3-propanediol / butyric acid) production plant. [Post,
December]
