Chemical Engineering September 2014 - 24

Buss-SMS-Canzler
CO/CO2
Your partner in developing new
products and processes
Newsfront
Thin Film
Dryer
Continuous contact drying of
liquids, slurries, sludges and
pastes.
important component
in the production of nylons
and polyurethanes,
is produced from a butadiene
hydrocyanation
reaction forming adiponitrile,
which is then
hydrogenated to HMD.
Rennovia's new process
uses glucose as a raw
material for a two-step
catalytic conversion to
HMD - no butadiene
is required. The process
has been demonstrated
to run continuously,
and the construction of
a mini-plant is planned
for 2015. In February
2014, Archer Daniels
Midland Co. (ADM; Decatur,
Ill.; www.adm.
com) invested $25 million
for the advancement
of Rennovia's renewable
technologies.
Subsequently, Genomatica
announced in
August 2014 that they
would begin developing
bio-based routes
to various nylon intermediates,
including
HMD,
caprolactum and
adipic acid.
Others are searching
H
CO/CO2
LanzaTech
Wood -Ljungdahl
pathway
H3C S
O
CO2
Fdred
Fdox
Pyruvate
synthase
O
OH
O
Pyruvate
Pyruvate
CO2
O
O
OH
OH
(S)-Acetolactate
CO2
O
OH
(R)-Acetoin
NAD(P)H
NAD(P)+
OH
OH
D-(-)-2,3-Butanediol
Catalysis step
www.sms-vt.com
We live process engineering
and special manufacturing
Buss-SMS-Canzler GmbH
Kaiserstraße 13-15 * 35510 Butzbach * Germany
Tel: +49 60 33 - 85 - 0 * Fax: +49 60 33 - 85 - 249
E-Mail: info@sms-vt.com
Circle 12 on p. 76 or go to adlinks.che.com/50980-12
for alternative products
altogether. In addition
to their butadiene partnership
with Genomatica,
Versalis has joined
forces with agricultural biomaterials
company Yulex Corp. (Phoenix, Ariz.;
www.yulex.com) for the manufacture
of biorubber materials using guayule,
a renewable, non-food crop, as a
raw material. Plans for an industrial
production facility in Europe are underway,
where the biorubber will be
a supplementary product to Versalis'
traditional butadiene-based synthetic
rubber. Once again, forecasted
scarcity and price volatility of butadiene
are among the factors driving
this partnership.
On-purpose chemistry's future
In the case of butadiene, it is clear
that on-purpose and bio-based
H H
H H
H
1,3-Butadiene
2,3-Butanediol
dehydrogenase
Acetolactate
decarboxylase
Acetolactate
synthase
technologies are not
merely a fad. Companies
are investing
and showing confidence
in the commercial
potential of
these processes. On
the future of on-purpose
technologies in
the CPI, Dow's Bob
Maughon remains
optimistic about the
industry's willingness
to adapt, saying,
" In general, we
were forced into the
co-product ecosystem
and we learned
to love it. I am convinced
that we will
learn to love the onpurpose
world even
more. " He also emphasizes
one major
positive aspect of an
on-purpose economy:
companies can apply
capital to make precisely
the product
they want. There
are obviously great
opportunities in the
field of on-demand
production technologies
for byproducts
of
crude-refining
processes. Beyond
butadiene, speaking about the
next on-purpose trend on the horizon,
Maughon explains that cyclopentadiene,
like butadiene, is a
cracker co-product with many uses.
However, there are no on-demand
routes to it currently. Also among
the chemicals affected by the move
toward ethane-only cracking are
isoprene and piperylene, as well
as aromatics like benzene, toluene
and xylene. It seems likely that
companies will continue investigating
advanced butadiene process
technologies, and perhaps they will
follow suit for cyclopentadiene
and other chemicals.
■
Mary Page Bailey
CoA
Acetyl-CoA
Figure 5. LanzaTech's
fermentation/catalysis
platform follows this biochemical
pathway
http://www.adm http://www.yulex.com http://www.sms-vt.com http://adlinks.che.com/50980-12
Chemical Engineering September 2014

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