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Clariant approves the
investment in a new full-scale commercial cellulosic ethanol plant
based on its sunliquid®
technology
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Further step for the
commercialization of bio-ethanol, licenses and enzymes
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Mid double-digit million peak
sales potential from sunliquid® cellulosic
ethanol
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Muttenz, October 31, 2017 - Clariant, a world
leader in specialty chemicals, today announced the approval by the
Board of Directors to invest in a new full-scale commercial plant
for the production of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues
using its sunliquid®
technology. The new plant, with an annual production capacity of
50.000 tons, will be built in the southwestern part of Romania. The
facility will be a flagship site, confirming competitiveness and
sustainability of the sunliquid® technology at
commercial scale thus supporting Clariant's sunliquid®
licensing business strategy.
"Clariant is continually investing in the
development of sustainable products and innovative solutions such
as sunliquid®. This
pioneering process demonstrates the production of efficient and
sustainable advanced biofuels and has great potential as a
technology platform for a variety of bio-based materials. It is a
further illustration 0f Clariant's successful innovation strategy,
as this technology provides additional growth potential to an
already strong portfolio", says Christian Kohlpaintner, Member of
the Executive Committee at Clariant.
To further focus on the commercialization of
bio-ethanol, licenses and enzymes, Clariant has set-up a new
Business Line Biofuels & Derivatives, as part of the
Business Area Catalysis. As of January 2018, all activities and
costs related to the sunliquid® technology
platform will be transferred from Corporate Costs to the Business
Line Biofuels & Derivatives.
In September this year, Clariant already announced
a successful step towards increasing the commercial attractiveness
of its sunliquid® technology by
signing the first technology license agreement with Enviral, a
member of the Envien Group.
"After five years of operating our pre-commercial
sunliquid® plant in
Straubing, Germany, and thorough process demonstration we are now
ready to scale-up to the next level", explains Markus Rarbach, Head
of Start-up Business Biofuels & Derivatives at
Clariant. "It is the next big step into an attractive market and a
significant advancement in the successful commercialization of this
highly innovative and sustainable technology". The investment also
brings substantial economic benefits to the region. By locally
sourcing feedstock, greenhouse gas savings can be maximized and
additional business opportunities arise in the region along the
value chain."
Next steps are detailed engineering studies before
the ground breaking and start of construction, which is planned for
2018. The plant is anticipated to deliver its first batch of
product in 2020. Peak sales from the sunliquid®
cellulosic ethanol plant are expected to be in the mid double-digit
million range. This achievement is part of and results from
Clariant's biotechnology innovation expertise[1].
At full capacity, the new plant will process
approximately 250.000 tons of wheat straw and other cereal straw
annually, which will be sourced from local farmers. Co-products
from the process will be used for the generation of renewable
energy with the goal of making the plant independent from fossil
energy sources. Therefore, the resulting cellulosic ethanol is an
almost carbon neutral advanced biofuel.
Cellulosic ethanol is an advanced and truly
sustainable biofuel which is almost carbon neutral. It is produced
from agricultural residue such as wheat straw and corn stover that
is obtained from farmers. The straw is converted into cellulosic
sugars followed by fermentation of cellulosic sugars to cellulosic
ethanol. By using agricultural residue, cellulosic ethanol can
extend current biofuels production to new feedstocks and improved
performance. Cellulosic sugars also have the potential to serve as
a building block for future production of bio-based chemicals.
The sunliquid® technology
offers a completely integrated process design built on established
process technology. Innovative technology features like the
integrated production of feedstock and process specific enzymes and
simultaneous C5 and C6 sugars fermentation ensure best in class
commercial performance.
sunliquid® is a
registered trademark of Clariant.
Corporate Media Relations |
Investor Relations |
Jochen Dubiel
Phone +41 61 469 63 63
jochen.dubiel@clariant.com |
Anja Pomrehn
Phone +41 61 469 67 45
anja.pomrehn@clariant.com |
Claudia Kamensky
Phone +41 61 469 63 63
claudia.kamensky@clariant.com |
Maria Ivek
Phone +41 61 469 63 73
maria.ivek@clariant.com |
Thijs Bouwens
Phone +41 61 469 63 63
thijs.bouwens@clariant.com |
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www.clariant.com
Clariant is a globally leading specialty chemicals company, based
in Muttenz near Basel/Switzerland. On 31 December 2016 the company
employed a total workforce of 17 442. In the financial year
2016, Clariant recorded sales of CHF 5.847 billion for its
continuing businesses. The company reports in four business areas:
Care Chemicals, Catalysis, Natural Resources, and Plastics &
Coatings. Clariant's corporate strategy is based on five pillars:
focus on innovation through R&D, add value with sustainability,
reposition portfolio, intensify growth, and increase
profitability.
www.sunliquid.com
sunliquid® is an
innovative biotechnological method for manufacturing cellulosic
ethanol from agricultural residues such as cereal straw, corn
stover or sugarcane bagasse. In the completely integrated process,
highly optimized, raw material-specific biocatalysts decompose
cellulose and hemicellulose in high yields with stable processing
conditions into fermentable sugar. The process-integrated
production of the biocatalysts offers flexibility and reduces
production costs. In the next step, C5 as well as C6 sugar can be
converted into ethanol with a new fermentation organism, thereby
raising the ethanol yield by about 50 percent. A highly optimized
purification process is instrumental in enabling all the energy
required for the process to be derived from the insoluble residue
lignin. The resulting cellulosic ethanol saves around 95% of CO2
emissions when compared to fossil gasoline. Since July 2012,
Clariant has been operating a pre-commercial plant in Straubing,
which produces up to 1,000 metric tons of cellulosic ethanol from
around 4,500 metric tons of raw material every year.
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[1] The project
receives funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework
Program for research, technological development and demonstration
under Grant Agreement no. 322386 and from the Bio-Based Industries
Joint Undertaking under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program under grant agreement No 709606.
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