First Biobased PBT Production Under Way
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Lanxess in Germany recently made a production run of Pocan PBT using 20 metric tons of biobased BDO (1,4-butanediol) made with the commercially-proven process developed by San Diego-based Genomatica.
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Lanxess in Germany (U.S. office in Pittsburgh) recently made a production run of Pocan PBT using 20 metric tons of biobased BDO (1,4-butanediol) made with the commercially-proven process developed by San Diego-based Genomatica. The process converts sugars into BDO in a patented direct fermentation process. Says Hartwig Meier, head of global product and application development for Lanxess’ high performance materials business unit, “This is a strong signal to the market and a tremendous step forward in our future plans to offer our Pocan in a biobased version. Due to its unchanged properties, Pocan compounds based on biobased PBT can directly be used in established application fields such as automotive or electro/electronics.” Genomatica is developing processes for other high-volume industrial chemicals, including butadiene.
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