Business Concentrates BIOFUELS
Ethanol from trashy sources advances Firms turn to garbage and wheat straw to make the fuel alcohol
OVERHEARD
“It may be a monster, but the Whitechapel fatberg deserves a second chance.” —Thames Water waste network manager Alex Saunders talking about the U.K. agency’s plans for a 130-metric-ton agglomeration of fat, oil, grease, wet wipes, and sanitary products that clogged an East London sewer. Once removed, the gunk will be made into biodiesel by Argent Energy. It will create enough fuel to power 350 double-decker buses for one day.
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | SEPTEMBER 25, 2017
landfill or incinerate household trash. But building big gasification plants that use new technology or unusual feedstocks is expensive and risky. Earlier attempts by biofuels firms KiOR and Range Fuels to gasify waste led to bankruptcies. Enerkem developed a bubbling, fluidized bed gasifier that runs at lower temperature and pressure than traditional plasma gasifiers. Ethanol from garbage is classified as cellulosic ethanol by regulators, making it similar to biofuels made from agricultural wastes. These advanced biofuels offer higher greenhouse gas savings than does ethanol made from crops, and they don’t displace land used to grow food. In Europe, where bioethanol is made mainly from wheat, regulators have instituted mandates requiring new facilities to produce biofuels with a minimum of 60%
greenhouse gas savings over fossil fuels. That could put wheat-growing regions of Eastern Europe at a disadvantage. Now, the Slovakian company Enviral plans to make cellulosic ethanol from wheat straw at its Leopoldov site using Sunliquid technology licensed from the chemical maker Clariant. The process uses specialized enzymes to break down the tough straw along with microbes that can ferment a mixture of C5 and C6 sugars into ethanol. The firms plan to break ground by the end of the year. “It marks our official entrance into the market and the successful commercialization of this highly innovative and sustainable technology,” says Christian Kohlpaintner, a member of Clariant’s executive committee.—MELODY
BOMGARDNER
POLYMERS
BASF scoops up Solvay’s nylon In a transaction involving two of Europe’s biggest chemical makers, BASF has agreed to acquire Solvay’s global nylon business for $1.9 billion. The business is the world’s third-largest maker of nylon engineering plastics, with annual sales of $1.6 billion and pretax profits of about $240 million. It predominantly makes nylon 6,6, a polymer with applications in automotive, electronics, and other markets. BASF says the purchase will give it greater access to growth markets in South America and Asia. Additionally, the deal will strengthen BASF’s nylon 6,6 supply chain by bringing the key raw material adiponitrile, which BASF now purchases. The deal is set to be completed late next year. Solvay acquired the nylon business in 2011 as part of its $4.8 billion purchase of the French chemicals firm Rhodia. It employs approximately 2,400 people,
half of whom are located in France. It has 12 production sites, four R&D hubs, and 10 technical support centers. Solvay’s move mirrors those of Honeywell and Solutia, both of which exited the nylon sector in the past few years. Nylon has become more profitable recently, Solvay says. Nevertheless, the firm is ditching it in line with its longterm strategy to focus on higher-value specialty chemicals. The divestment “marks a tipping point” in a transformation the firm began four years ago, says Solvay CEO Jean-Pierre Clamadieu. Meanwhile, Solvay says it has no plans to divest its hydrogen peroxide or soda ash operations, commodity businesses that in 2016 generated total sales of about $2.5 billion. These businesses have scale and technological advantages and generate cash with little exposure to economic cycles, says Solvay board member Pascal Juéry.—ALEX SCOTT
C R E D I T: E N ER K E M
Residents of Edmonton, Alberta, will soon be able to fuel their cars with household garbage, albeit indirectly. Enerkem says it is successfully producing ethanol from nonrecyclable or noncompostable trash at a nearby facility it first turned on back in 2014. At Enerkem’s plant, trash is gasified and then converted to methanol using catalysts. A separate on-site process transforms the methanol to ethanol. The company plans to progressively increase ethanol production in Edmonton while it pursues similar projects in Europe and China. Almost all gasoline blends in North America contain ethanol made from corn; the cost of the fuel generally tracks with corn prices. In contrast, biofuels made from waste could end up being cheaper since municipalities have to pay to
Enerkem’s plant in Edmonton, Alberta, makes ethanol from municipal solid waste.
