September 27, 2010

1. GREEN CHEMICALS
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ADIPIC ACID DORIS DE GUZMAN NEW YORK
Bio-adipic acid prepares for entry
Rennovia and Verdezyne plan to commercialize renewable-based adipic acid by 2014
Amid tightening supply and rising Rennovia’s preliminary cost es- “We intend to do the semi-
prices for global adipic acid (ADA), timates for the method is below the work and commercial-scale facili-
US start-up firms Rennovia and cash cost of the cyclohexane proc- ties with a partner. We are already
Verdezyne see a good chance to ess operating when crude oil is at engaged with people from the
enter the sector with their renewa- $60/bbl (€46/bbl), said president value chain, coming from both
ble-based ADA versions. and CEO Robert Wedinger, who upstream feedstock suppliers and
Menlo Park, California-based spoke at the Bio-based Chemicals downstream consumer manufac-
Rennovia, US, which was founded East conference in Boston, Massa- turers,” he noted.
in 2009, intends to start up its pilot chusetts, US this month. Verdezyne, based in Carlsbad,
scale bio-ADA production in De- The company’s strategy is to use California, US, has also been
cember, a year after it initiated re- chemo-catalytic processing. “Not working with its bio-ADA for a
search and development (R&D) for only can we leverage existing year and aims to scale up from
the glucose-derived chemical. chemical manufacturing assets laboratory to pilot production next
Unlike ADA produced from using catalytic chemical processes, year. The company produces ADA
cyclohexane feedstock, Renno- we also have greater efficiency and via fermentation processing using
via’s product uses glucose, which scalability compared to fermenta- “Our big advantage sugar, plant-based oils or paraffin
is converted into glucaric acid as tion processing,” said Wedinger. as feedstock.
an intermediate via oxidation “High space-time yields, tempera-
here is eliminating According to Damien Per-
with a catalyst. The glucaric acid ture and solvent flexibility, high numerous steps” riman, Verdezyne’s vice president
is converted into adipic acid via carbon efficiencies and low cost of DAMIEN PERRIMAN of business development, the
the hydrogenation process. It pro- product isolation make chemo- Vice president, business company is looking for a partner
development, Verdezyne
duces water as a by-product. catalysis preferable to fermentation for the pilot facility. Commercial-
for many large-volume chemical ization is expected in 2014–2015.
manufacturing processes.” Perriman also spoke at the Bio-
GREEN CHEMICALS Using its high-throughput cata- Rennovia plans to diversify to based Chemicals East event.
IN BRIEF lyst R&D infrastructure, Rennovia non-food-based raw materials, “Our goal is to license the use of
said it could produce gram quanti- such as lignocellulosics, as soon our microorganisms and the
FORD TO INCREASE
TWO DECK HEADING ties of ADA from glucose within as these supply chains mature. processing technology for making
WHEAT-STRAW PP USE
TWO DECK HEADING three months of initiating the [ADA] to interested parties or part-
US car manufacturer Ford Motor
50 words for a NIB. 275 words project. The firm intends to use ex- CAPACITIES COMING SOON ners,” said Perriman. “[ADA] is
is a full column of of US plas-
forincreasing its useNIBs includ- isting infrastructure for its feedstock Rennovia plans to scale up its such an enormous market and we
tics compounding firm A.
ing headline supply, including tapping into the bio-ADA manufacturing to a feel that licensing our process is
Schulman’s wheat straw-based oversupplied high-fructose corn demonstration facility late next the best way to reach the entire
polypropylene (PP) for injection syrup (HFCS) capacity. year to early 2012, and to com- market in a faster manner.”
molding materials. Replacing US demand for HFCS has fallen mercial production by late-2013 Depending on feedstock used,
glass fiber, mica and talc as fill- by 2.3bn lb (1m tonnes) since 2002, to early-2014. Verdezyne estimated its process-
ers in PP composites could re- said Wedinger. “We believe The capacity of the commer- ing to have a 20–30% cost advan-
duce costs by up to 10%, while there are opportunities to shift corn cial plant is expected to be be- tage in the long run over petro-
replacing acrylonitrile-butadiene- wet mill capacity from HFCS pro- tween 300m–500m lb/year, chemical-based ADA. Its process
styrene (ABS) with wheat straw- duction to renewable chemicals which is the typical production will be cost-neutral if petroleum
based PP could cut costs by production without threatening capacity of petroleum-based ADA oil prices fall as low as $40/bbl,
10–15%, according to Ford. food supply.” facilities, said Wedinger. said Perriman.
“Our big advantage here is elim-
CATHAY BIOTECH PLANS ADA CONTRACT PRICES ARE RISING inating numerous steps typically
BIOBUTANOL EXPANSION seen in making [ADA] from cy-
$/tonne
Chinese biobutanol producer clohexane, where each step has
Cathay Industrial Biotech plans yield losses,” he said. “With fer-
to build its second n-butanol mentation processing, you’re es-
facility either in China or the US, sentially converting the raw mate-
with capacity of around 100,000 rial to [ADA] in a single step.”
tonnes/year. The company ex- Another advantage, added Per-
pects to finalize its plans by the riman, is to be able to build
end of the year. Cathay Biotech smaller-scale fermentation plants
manufactures corn-based n-bu- for a fraction of the volume risk
tanol for chemicals application, S O N D J F M A M J J A S
across different regions based on
mostly for the domestic market. 2009 2010 the locally available feedstock
SOURCE: ICIS
that they can use.
22 | ICIS Chemical Business | September 27-October 3, 2010 www.icis.com

2. European
petchems at a
disadvantage
FEATURE P34 :D8@9LJ@EJJ8;M@JFIPJIM@:J
GLOBAL ADA PRODUCERS AT A GLANCE
Rhodia Others
18% 13%
BASF 9ecc_jj[ZJeOekhkjkh[$
11%
INVISTA
20% Lioyang
Petrochemical
6%
Hongye
5%
Bohui
Ascend 5%
13% Asahi Kasei Radici
4% 5%
SOURCE: Verdezyne
“The scenario here is to have a counting for 85% of demand in
facility making feedstock choices. North America, according to US
Smaller-scale facilities provide consulting firm Nexant . Poly-
less capital risks compared to a urethanes (PUs) account for 5%
new large-scale chemical plant,” of demand, followed by ADA es- M[Wh[_dl[ij_d]_doekhkjkh[$$$
said Perriman. ters, at 4%.
[nf[h_[dY[ZYedikbjWdji]beXWbcWha[j
ADA ATTRACTION “There is now the ademb[Z][ZodWc_YZWjWXWi[
Rennovia estimated the global possibility of creating
ADA market size at 4.8bn lb, with
a growth rate of 3–5%/year. The 100% bio-based nylon
global operating rate for ADA this from ADA”
year is estimated at 85%, com- ROBERT WEDINGER
pared with 95% last year, said President and CEO, Rennovia
Wedinger. Verdezyne also esti-
mated the market at 4.8bn lb last
year, with a growth rate of 4.3%/ Wedinger pointed out the pos- :FDDI:@8C›JKI8KP›K:?EFCFP
year. It chose ADA because of the sibility of now being able to cre-
strong consumer market pull in ate 100% bio-based nylon since
KI8EJ8:K@FE›C8C›IEN89CJ
footwear, automobiles and elec- ADA can also be converted into
tronics, said Perriman. adiponitrile (ADN), which can
“Engineering plastics is an area then be converted into caprol-
:D8@9lj`ejj8[m`jfipJim`Zjf]]i
where new application develop- actam (capro), the precursor to jfle[`e[ge[ekX[m`ZkX`cfi[kf
ments are especially looking for nylon 6.
pfliYlj`ejje[j%N`k_j`ogiXZk`Z
more sustainability value, such as “[ADA] was once largely used
using renewable-based materi- to produce [ADN] by dehydration XiXjXZifjj`^_k^cfYXccfZXk`fej
als,” added Perriman. of the diamide, but cheaper buta- ]fZlj[jgZ`]`ZXccpfek_Z_d`ZXc
The majority of ADA goes into diene [BD] has kicked out this
the production of nylon 6,6, ac- route into oblivion. But the price Xe[icXk[`e[ljki`j#fli`e[ljkip
of [BD] has been going up and the ogi`eZ[ZfejlckXekjXile`hlcp
DEMAND IN NORTH market has been volatile,” said
AMERICA, 2009 hlXc`]`[kfgigXipfliYlj`ejj
Wedinger.
Nylon 6,6 ICIS estimated the September ]fi]lklifggfikle`k`j%
85% contract price for European ADA
at $1.36–1.40/lb, FD (free deliv-
ered), NWE (northwest Europe). :D8@9lj`ejj8[m`jfipJim`Zj1
The Asian contract price was at :[[f?di_]^ji$;nf[hjbo7ffb_[Z$
$1.11–1.15/lb, CFR (cost and
freight), NE (Northeast) Asia.
Rennovia estimated the US
ADA price at $1.25/lb, while Ver-
dezyne noted the spot price had
skyrocketed to around $1.75/lb,
Polyurethanes because of the global shortage of
5% ADA. Reduced operating rates
Others Adipate esters
,
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1,*
ÊUÊ-ÊUÊ

4. Ê
-/
and global capacity reductions last
6% 4%
year were the drivers for the tight-
SOURCE: Nexant
ening market, said Perriman.
www.icis.com September 27-October 3, 2010 | ICIS Chemical Business | 23