ZeaChem, Procter & Gamble partner for renewable chemicals production

June 1, 2011 |

In Colorado, ZeaChem announced a binding multi-year joint development agreement with Procter & Gamble. The agreement will accelerate development of ZeaChem’s product platform beyond C2 through the commercialization of “drop-in” bio-based chemicals and other products.

The two companies will utilize ZeaChem’s existing infrastructure at its lab in Menlo Park, Calif., pilot facility at Hazen Research in Golden, Colo., and demonstration-scale biorefinery in Boardman, Ore. Together, P&G and ZeaChem will research, develop and demonstrate, scale-up, and commercialize this new product platform.

The company has begun fermentation work on this new product platform using the same processes and equipment that the company used to prove and scale up its C2 product platform. The new platform also enables ZeaChem to ultimately deploy its technology for the production of other bio-based chemicals as well as drop-in fuels.

Although the companies declined to describe the nature of the target molecules, ZeaChem indicated last year that it aimed to initiate research and development of its three carbon (C3) product platform.

“Nature has generally dictated that odd numbers like C3 provide more opportunities to make money,” ZeaChem CEo Jim Imbler told the Digest. He said last year that the company’s expansion strategy, as it unfolded over time, would target specific products (e.g. C3-based chemicals) based on partnerships with strategic investors, and that products from its C3 platform (e.g propylene, lactic acid) represented the  company’s best commercial opportunities.

ZeaChem’s technology is a parallel hybrid system of fermentation and gasification. This hybrid process achieves 40% higher yield than other cellulosic processes. Theoretical maximum for biochemical and thermochemical players is approximately 100 gallons/BDT compared to ZeaChem’s theoretical maximum of 165 gallons/BDT. At 85% efficiency, actual yield for biochemical and thermochemical only processes will be around 90 gallons/BDT compared to 135 gallon/BDT for ZeaChem’s technology. This significant yield advantage translates into economic saving and environmental benefits.

More on ZeaChem’s technology and metrics here.

Category: Fuels

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