BioAmber & Mitsui join to build bio-BDO plant in Canada

ERJ staff report (LMH)

Minneapolis, Minnesota - BioAmber, a renewable chemicals company, and Mitsui & Co., a global trading company, have partnered to build and operate a 1,4 butanediol (BDO) and succinic acid manufacturing facility in Sarnia, Canada.

The initial production phase is expected to have a production capacity of 17 kilotonnes of biosuccinic acid and will commence commercial production in 2013. The companies said they intend to expand and eventually produce 23 kilotonnes of 1,4 butanediol (BDO), as well as 35 kilotonnes of succinic acid.

BioAmber and Mitsui also intend to jointly build and operate two additional facilities that, together with Sarnia, will have a total cumulative capacity of 123 kilotonnes of BDO. The second plant will be based in Thailand and is expected to come onstream in 2014. A third plant, in either North America or Brazil, will be similar in size to the Thailand project, BioAmber said in a 8 Nov news release.

BioAmber said it has developed a proprietary technology that combines industrial biotechnology, with a purification process and patented catalysts to convert renewable feedstocks into chemicals that can replace petroleum-derived chemicals. Mitusi has secured renewable feedstock in Brazil, Thailand and other countries as part of its focus on renewable chemicals, according to the news release.

“Our goal is to play a leading role in the growth of renewable chemicals,” said Masanori Ikebe, general manager of Mitusi's speciality chemicals. “We believe biosuccinic acid and bio-BDO will experience rapid growth over the next decade, and BioAmber's technology leadership is an excellent fit with Mitsui's strength across the supply chain.”

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Press release from BioAmber