Chemical Engineering March 2011 - 20

Technology Showcase
BIO-BASED CHEMICALS
POSITIONED TO GROW
Whether designed as drop-in replacements
to fossil-fuel-derived substances or new
formulations altogether, some renewable
building blocks are breaking market barriers
he production of biotechnologybased
chemicals, while still a niche
operation in terms of global chemical
production, is demonstrating
double-digit growth, says a recent
SRI Consulting report*. Enabled
by rapid advances in industrial
biotechnology and significant
increases in the price of
crude oil over recent years,
the number of biotechnology-based
chemicals within
the sights of commercial
producers is increasing.
The report provides detailed
industry and market
analysis for six biotechnologybased
chemicals - citric acid,
glutamic acid, lactic acid, lysine,
polyhydroxyalkanoates and threonine.
All these chemicals are produced by
microorganisms without being challenged
by synthetic production routes,
have already achieved commercial
status, and are considered important
chemical building blocks.
T
Lysine
Citric acid
Lactic acid
The total market of the selected
products amounted to 6-million metric
tons (m.t.) in 2009 and was valued
at about $10 billion, and the value is
expected to reach over $12 billion in
2014. Of the six chemicals covered in
the report above-average growth is
expected for polyhydroxyalkanoates
Polyhydroxyalkanoates
Threonine
WORLD CONSUMPTION OF
BIOTECHNOLOGY-BASED
CHEMICALS-2009a
Chemical Quantity
(1,000
m.t.)
Citric acid
1,500-
2,000
Glutamic acid b 2,500-
3,000
Lactic acid c
Lysine d
Polyhydroxyalkanoates
(PHA)
Threonine
1,000
1,500
1-2
Average annual
growth
rate, 2009-
2014a (%)
4.7
3.9
350-400 7.2
3.9
>25e
150-200 5.1
a. Volume basis
b. Calculated as monosodium salt because glutamic
acid is mostly consumed as the flavor enhancer
monosodium glutamate
c. As lactic acid, its salts and esters
d. As L-lysine hydrochloride
e. Conservative estimate; 2010 production capacity
is sufficient to support an average annual growth
rate of more than 100%.
Glutamic acid
Source: SRI Consulting.
FIGURE 1. Generally, the biotechnologybased
chemicals with the least consumption
in 2009 (left) are expected to grow the most
rapidly through 2014 (Table, below)
and lactic acid because of increasing
demand for biopolymers (Figure
1). The uncertainty in these predictions
centers around the familiar
catch that current costs of these biobased
chemicals are higher than for
their comparable petroleum-derived
counterparts. In some applications,
renewable and biodegradable properties
might be enough to justify higher
costs for these completely alternative
chemical formulations. For bio-based
chemicals that are designed for so*
For more-detailed information, including all references see: " Biotechnology-based Chemicals " ,
(December 2010) SRI Consulting's Specialty Chemicals Update Program (SCUP), which may be
purchased by contacting Ralf Gubler in Zurich, Switzerland at +41-44-283-63-43 or rgubler@sric.
ch. SRI Consulting is now part of IHS, Inc.
called drop-in applications, however,
competitive production economics are
far more critical (see box, p. 20-21).
Lactic acid and polylactic acid
The lactic acid business is characterized
by a few major producers such as
Purac (Gorinchem, the Netherlands;
www.purac.com) and NatureWorks
(Minnetonka,
Minn.;
www.natureworksllc.com)
and many small-scale
producers in Asia. The 2009 global
market for lactic acid, its salts and esters
is estimated at 376,000 m.t., valued
at $823 million and is forecast to
grow at an average annual rate of over
7% during 2009-2014. Demand for lactic
acid is linked to various industries
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM MARCH 2011 19

http://www.purac.com http://www.nature http://www.worksllc.com http://WWW.CHE.COM

Chemical Engineering March 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering March 2011