BIOFUELS
DuPont seeks to sell cellulosic ethanol plant Firm’s change of heart about business is latest setback for the biofuel It’s one step forward and two steps back for the cellulosic ethanol business. As Clariant pushes ahead with plans to make ethanol from agricultural waste in Europe, two other chemical firms—DuPont and Beta Renewables—are pulling back from the technology. On Oct. 31, Clariant announced plans to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Romania based on its Sunliquid process. The Swiss specialty chemical company said the plant will be a flagship facility intended to demonstrate the technology’s competitiveness and support a licensing strategy. That was pretty much DuPont’s plan when it decided to build a cellulosic ethanol facility in Nevada, Iowa. The plant, which opened in October 2015 at a cost of more than $200 million, was intended to be the first of a string of facilities that would use DuPont enzymes and yeast to turn corn cobs, stems, and leaves into ethanol. But on Nov. 2, the same day that Dow-
DuPont released its first quarterly earnings report as a combined company, DuPont disclosed plans to sell the business. “While we still believe in the future of cellulosic biofuels, we have concluded it is in our long-term interest to find a strategic buyer for our technology, including the Nevada, Iowa, biorefinery,” DuPont said. Separately, Beta Renewables, an Italian cellulosic ethanol producer, is in trouble following the bankruptcy of its parent company, Mossi & Ghisolfi. The newsletter Biofuels Digest reports that Beta Renewables’ plant in Crescentino, Italy, the world’s first large cellulosic ethanol facility, has been shut down. Late last year, another bankrupt company, Abengoa, sold its cellulosic ethanol plant in Hugoton, Kan., to the start-up firm Synata Bio, which plans to convert it into a natural-gas-based chemicals and fuels facility. But it’s not all bad news for the indus-
DuPont wants to sell this cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa. try. Clariant is investing in Europe. And the third big U.S. cellulosic ethanol maker, a Poet-DSM joint venture in Emmetsburg, Iowa, claims to have solved a major challenge in pretreating cellulosic feedstock so it can be attacked by enzymes and yeast. “Where others have seen challenges, we have persevered,” says Poet-DSM board member Atul Thakrar. The firm says it anticipates increased production levels in 2018.—MICHAEL MCCOY
FINANCE
Japan’s chemical makers enjoy strong first half
C R E D I T: D OW D UP O N T
Cutbacks in China help fuel domestic production of basic chemicals Sales and earnings increased by double digits for most Japanese chemical companies in the first half of their fiscal year as business boomed in sectors as diverse as petrochemicals, electronic materials, and health care. Japan’s chemical makers are typically more diversified than their U.S. and European competitors. Many large companies are involved in everything from basic chemicals to prescription drugs. At the country’s largest chemical company, Mitsubishi Chemical, business was best in the chemical segment, where sales rose by more than 40% thanks to strong demand for commodity products such as methyl methacrylate (MMA). In the firm’s health care segment, sales were up only modestly, and operating income was down. At Sumitomo Chemical, Japan’s second-largest chemical maker, sales rose 17% and profits a whopping 256%. The
firm pointed to higher prices for fibers and MMA as well as increased shipments of
Japan’s first half Earnings rose sharply at most major companies. Asahi Kasei Hitachi Chemical JSR Mitsubishi Mitsui Shin-Etsu Sumitomo Teijin Tosoh Ube Industries
Sales 8.3% 24.4 11.9 13.8 9.2 13.4 17.1 14.6 16.2 16.4
Earnings 33.9% –0.6 64.6 26.9 37.5 26.6 256.3 36.6 62.0 122.1
Note: Percent change over previous year’s first half. Source: Companies
resorcinol, a business from which a major competitor, the U.S. firm Indspec, exited in July. Sumitomo also enjoyed higher shipments of touch screen panels and polarizing films for electronics and prescriptions drugs in North America and Japan. Anticipating continued good business, the firm raised its sales and earnings forecasts for the full fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2018. Yoshihiro Azuma, a stock analyst who covers Sumitomo for the investment firm Jefferies, noted that cutbacks in Chinese chemical production because of heightened environmental restrictions will continue to be a boon to Sumitomo’s petrochemical business. Mitsui Chemicals also had a good first half. The firm’s basic materials business, which accounts for almost half of its sales, did particularly well. In a reverse of the usual narrative, the firm’s sales of polyethylene and polypropylene were good in Japan, but sales of the polyester intermediate purified terephthalic acid stagnated in China.—MICHAEL MCCOY NOVEMBER 13, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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