BioAmber Produces Bio-based 1,4-Butanediol

Production campaign converts multi ton quantities of bio-succinic acid into bio-based 1,4-BDO

29-Mar-2012 - USA
Bioamber Inc. has scaled up its hydrogenation catalyst technology under license from DuPont and converted multi-ton quantities of bio-succinic acid into 100% bio-based 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BDO), tetrahydrofuran (THF) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL). BioAmber believes the global addressable market for these products exceeds $4 billion, and that they are principally used to make polyesters, polyurethanes, spandex and biodegradable plastics.
Using bio-succinic acid made at its French facility as a starting material, BioAmber successfully completed a 1,4-BDO production campaign in collaboration with one of the world's leading commercial catalyst suppliers and a toll manufacturer possessing large-scale hydrogenation reactors and distillation columns.
"This is the culmination of two years of work and an important milestone in the development of our bio-based 1,4-BDO platform.  We have been able to couple the DuPont catalyst technology with our bio-succinic acid production to manufacture high purity bio-based 1,4-BDO at demonstration scale," said Jim Millis, BioAmber's Chief Technology Officer. "We are developing an integrated plant engineering design that combines the production of bio-succinic acid and bio-based 1,4-BDO on a single site," he added.

Other news from the department manufacturing

Most read news

More news from our other portals

Fighting cancer: latest developments and advances