Plantrose biomass plant scale up

BASF is to work with Renmatix, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to scale up the Plantrose process for the production of industrial sugars based on lignocellulosic biomass.

This follows BASF’s $30 million investment in Renmatix in January 2012.

The Plantrose technology developed by Renmatix enables industrial sugar to be produced, at competitive costs, from a variety of non-edible biomass (lignocellulose) sources. The proprietary process breaks down lignocellulosic sources such as wood, agricultural-residues and straw into industrial sugars using supercritical water (water at high temperature and pressure).

Industrial sugars are important building blocks for various basic chemicals and intermediates that can be produced, for example, by fermentative processes. The availability of these industrial sugars in sufficient quantities and at competitive cost is important to enable both environmentally-friendly and cost-competitive bio-based products including plastics, fibres and nonwovens. Incorporating biomass feedstocks as a first step in the value chain creates a raw material change that can reduce reliance on fossil raw material sources like naphtha as principal feedstock.

BASF experts are engaged in identifying interesting processes for utilising alternative raw materials, such as renewables, natural gas, and CO2.

“Raw material change will only be possible via process innovations that allow the utilization of alternative sources of raw materials,” said Dr Peter Schuhmacher, president of BASF’s process research and chemical engineering competence centre. “It requires processes like Plantrose, which will be further developed in a joint effort, that enable the use of non-edible biomass as a chemical feedstock and which do not compete with food or feed production. The Plantrose process addresses our needs for renewable raw materials.”

“Over the past two years, BASF has made significant investments of time and capital to support our efforts at Renmatix,” said Mike Hamilton, CEO of Renmatix. “At Renmatix we are focused on supporting the emerging biochemical market by enabling progressive leaders to scale up Plantrose capacity to increase the global