Chemical Engineering September 2014 - 22

Newsfront
and will specifically focus on using
non-food lignocellulosic biomass as
a raw material.
Genomatica sees global viability
for bio-butadiene, citing shifting refinery
feeds and an increased awareness
of product sustainability. The
company says that the butadiene
development program is off to a fast
start, with $100 million in industry
investment and strategic partners
with commercialization intent.
Genomatica's butadiene platform
employs proprietary microorganisms
that convert biological
feedstocks into butadiene directly
or via an intermediate. All of the
steps in these metabolic pathways
have demonstrated functional expression.
A patent was granted in
November 2013 covering a method
for the direct production of butadiene.
According to the company, the
process involves all aspects of separation
and purification to deliver
a chemical product that will work
in existing applications without
requiring changes by downstream
users. This versatility, along with
the use of renewable feedstocks, are
the main aspects that have drawn
commercial interest in the process.
Another company seeking a renewable
pathway to butadiene is
Cobalt Technologies (Mountain
View, Calif; www.cobalttech.com),
which has developed a fermentation
platform that takes sugars sourced
from cellulosic biomass and converts
them into n-butanol, which can subsequently
be reacted to form many
other chemicals, including butadiene.
The ability to leverage the flexibility
of n-butanol as a chemical
starting point is a huge benefit, says
Andy Meyer, president of Cobalt
Technologies. " N-butanol is an incredible
building block into other renewable
chemicals and fuels. Given
our cost position in the production of
n-butanol, and given the impact of
shale gas on C4 molecules, it became
a natural fit to pursue butadiene as
a product platform. "
According to the company, Cobalt
is finalizing a joint-development
agreement with strategic partners
in Asia, which will complete the
work required to scale the remainCircle
38 on p. 76 or go to adlinks.che.com/50980-38
22 ChemiCal engineering www.Chemengonline.Com September 2014
ing elements of the technology.
" Upon successful completion, we
plan to move forward with commercialization
with our Asia partners
and further monetize the technology
globally through other licensing
and partnership arrangements, "
says Meyer. Cobalt is also in the
preliminary stages of pursuing various
opportunities in the U.S.
Cobalt and Genomatica are just
two of the many companies at the
forefront of bio-based butadiene
technology. Several other notable developments
have been announced in
the past year, including the BioButterfly
project, a research partnership
between Axens (Rueil-Malmaison,
France; www.axens.net), IFP Energies
Nouvellas (Rueil-Malmaison,
France; www.ifpenergiesnouvelles.
com) and Michelin (Clermont-Ferrand,
France; www.michelin.com)
to create and market a process for
producing bio-sourced butadiene.
Scoped for eight years, the project
is focused on the need for alternative
raw-material sources for the
synthetic rubbers industry, and,
with €52 million in backing, the
partners hope that it will be a major
step toward a more environmentally
friendly rubber industry.
Additionally, Global Bioenergies
(Evry, France; www.global-bioenergies.com)
was granted a patent
in April 2014 for production of biobutadiene
via enzymatic dehydration.
Further development of this
process is the scope of a partnership
with Synthos Group S.A. (Oswiecim,
Poland; www.synthosgroup.
com). Also investigating enzymatic
technology for butadiene production
is Arzeda Corp. (Seattle, Wash.;
www.arzeda.com), which has designed
specific enzymatic pathways
to convert biomass into butadiene.
For the process development of this
technology, Arzeda has collaborated
with Invista (Wichita, Kan.; www.
invista.com), citing butadiene price
volatility as one of the main drivers
behind this partnership.
Utilizing waste gas
A novel technology developed
by LanzaTech (Skokie,
www.lanzatech.com) aims to create
Ill.;

http://www.axens.net http://www.ifpenergiesnouvelles http://www.michelin.com http://www.global-bioen http://www.cobalttech.com http://www.ergies.com http://www.synthosgroup http://www.arzeda.com http://www.invista.com http://www.lanzatech.com http://adlinks.che.com/50980-38 http://www.Chemengonline.Com

Chemical Engineering September 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering September 2014