BioRefineries Blog

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. LCY Biosciences announced that it had acquired BioAmber’s biobased succinic acid plant and that it was ready to resume operations in 2020. Now, it has been confirmed that the company is producing succinic acid and carotenoids in the former BioAmber’s biorefinery. News (The Sarnia Journal): “ A once defunct Sarnia bioplastics plant has risen from the ashes ”, 17/08/2021. Figure 1. The LCY Biosciences plant in the Lanxess Bio-industrial Park on Vidal Street (credits: Glenn Ogilvie) BioAmber formed a joint venture with Mitsui to build a succinic acid plant in Sarnia (Ontario, Canada). The facility, with a nominal capacity of 30 ktons/year, was commissioned in August 2015. However, in 2018, with a heavy debt load and few customers, it closed the Sarnia plant and filed for bankruptcy, leaving 60 people unemployed. According to The Sarnia Journal, after buying the plant and investing millions, LCY Biosciences is today producing more suc...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. The project NEOSUCCESS has obtained funding from the EU Fast Track Innovation (FTI) program, starting in June 2020. It is aimed at making commercially available an efficient technology for simultaneously upgrading biogas and producing biobased succinic acid (bio-SA) through a unique complementary process. Figure 1. Scheme of the biogas upgrading reactor (taken from the patent WO/2014/188000) Biogas mainly contains methane (50-75%) and carbon dioxide (25-50%). For biogas to be used as fuel it must be upgraded removing unwanted gases, mainly CO 2 , but also other gas impurities. Upgrading of biogas to CH 4 content higher than 90% can not only increase the heating value, but also reduce corrosion caused by acid gas. The most common upgrading methods remove the impurities mechanically or chemically. The new NEOSUCCESS process, based on an innovative biological approach patented by DTU, (“ Methods for upgrading of a fu...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. In June 2010, DSM and Roquette established a JV named Reverdia , for the production, commercialization and market development of Biosuccinium™, sustainable succinic acid. In May 2011, Reverdia announced the construction of a large-scale plant for the production of succinic acid from renewable resources plant in Cassano Spinola (Italy). The 10,000 tons/y facility commenced operations in December 2012 basing its production on an integrated biorefinery concept. Press release: “ DSM and Roquette take next step in bio-based succinic acid ”, 22/2/2019. Now, Reverdia´s parent companies have decided on a strategic shift in the continuing operations of their JV. Effective 1 April 2019, it will be dissolved and the partners will transfer the rights and obligations related to the Cassano biorefinery to Roquette. Under a non-exclusive license from DSM, Roquette will operate the plant and continue serving customers of Biosuccinium. Customer service, ord...

Recent news about one of the main actors in the bio-succinic acid arena (learn more about succinic acid biorefineries ). BioAmber Inc. is trying to penetrate the Asian market and, to this end, it has signed a non-binding letter of intent with South Korean-based CJ CheilJedang Corporation ("CJCJ"), a subsidiary of the CJ Group. Under the terms of the agreement, BioAmber and CJCJ plan to establish a joint venture in China to produce up to 36,000 metric tons of bio-succinic acid annually and commercialize the output in Asia (see the press release ). The goal is to retrofit an existing CJCJ fermentation facility with BioAmber's technology to market bio-succinic acid in China rapidly, cost effectively and with a relatively low investment. CJCJ would incur all capital costs required to retrofit its fermentation plant, including the capital needed during plant commissioning and startup. Production would begin in Q1 2018. If market demand were to subsequently exceed prod...

Nombre / Name Montmeló Succinic Acid Plant Empresa / Company Succinity GmbH ( www.succinity.com ) Localización / Location Montmeló (Spain) Categoría / Category Comercial / Commercial Estado / Status - Plataformas / Platforms Azúcares C5/C6 /  C5/C6 sugars Materia prima / Raw material Sustratos renovables (glicerina, azúcares,…) / Renewable substrates (glycerol, sugars,…) Producto / Product Ácido succínico / Succinic acid Puesta en marcha / Start-Up Marzo 2014 / March 2014 Succinity GmbH, una “joint venture” de BASF y Corbion Purac, está enfocada en la producción y comercialización de ácido succínico. Ambas compañías llevan investigando sobre el ácido succínico de origen renovable bajo un acuerdo de desarrollo conjunto desde 2009, antes incluso de registrar Succinity GmbH en agosto de 2013. La empresa posee una planta en Montmeló que fue construida mod...

Publication date: 16/10/2015. Last update: 20/12/2016. Introduction The blog will open soon a new section focused on summarizing the information available about the commercial and pilot plants of the most promising Biobased Chemical Building Blocks (BCBB). The section will contain links to monographic posts updated in a regular basis. I have chosen bio-succinic acid to start the series because some companies have achieved important milestones related to its large-scale commercialization. Clearly, it is one of the DoE´s top 12 BCBB that it is fulfilling the previous generated expectations. Description 1,2,3 Succinic acid (butanedioic acid), is a diprotic, dicarboxylic acid with chemical formula C 4 H 6 O 4 . It is a water-soluble, colorless crystal with an acid taste. The name derives from Latin “succinum”, meaning amber, from which the acid was originally obtained by pulverising and distilling it using a sand bath. It is produced naturally as a product of cellul...

Nombre / Name Cassano Succinic Acid Plant Empresa / Company Roquette Localización / Location Cassano Spinola (Italy) Categoría / Category Comercial / Commercial Estado / Status Operación / Running Plataforma / Platform Azúcares C5/C6 / C5/C6-sugars Materia prima / Feedstock Almidón y azúcares / Starch and sugars Producto / Product Ácido succínico / Succinic acid Puesta en marcha / Start-Up Diciembre 2012 / December 2012 Figure 1. Reverdia’s Cassano Facility for Biosuccinium Production (extracted from Reverdia web page) En Junio de 2010, DSM y Roquette Frères formalizaron el acuerdo de constitución de una empresa conjunta llamada Reverdia, para la producción, comercialización y desarrollo del mercado de Biosuccinium™, ácido succínico sostenible. La colaboración ya se había iniciado a principios de 2008 con en el desarrollo de la mejor y más sostenible ...