Issue 01/2016

Materials
Making Levulinic Acid happen
A new (?) building block not only for bioplastics
No. Levulinic acid (LA) is not exactly a new building block
or better a new platform chemical. It has been known
of since 1840. “Everybody knows the benefits of levulinic
acid, but few are using it yet – because it has been too
expensive so far”, Maxim Katinov, CEO of Caserta, Italy based
GFBiochemicals told bioplastics MAGAZINE during a plant visit
in early December.
GFBiochemicals is the first and only company to produce
levulinic acid at commercial scale directly from biomass. The
10,000 tonnes/annum commercial-scale production plant in
Caserta started production in July 2015. The plant uses new
and modified conversion, recovery and purification technology
owned by GFBiochemicals. The company also has offices in
Milan, Italy and Geleen, the Netherlands. In-house application
and R&D is supported by a highly skilled and prolific
management team with decades of experience in innovation,
production and business development of biobased chemicals.
“We have the best people and they are passionate about what
they do”, as Maxim proudly told us. “Many of them left leading
world renowned chemical companies in the Netherlands to
join a startup“, he added.
Levulinic acid is a biobased platform chemical with
applications in the chemical and biofuel sectors. “Levulinic
acid is an essential building block for a green future,” as
Marcel van Berkel, CCO of GFBiochemicals pointed out. In
2004, the US Department of Energy (DoE) identified LA as one
of the 12 most important platform chemicals [1].
Levulinic acid for affordable prices
Fundamentally lower price ranges are now possible for
derivatives using GFBiochemicals technology. “We don’t need
outputs of 150,000 tonnes to be successful,” said Maxim
Katinov. “We can do it economically with three, five or ten
thousand tonnes. And so we can produce and deliver levulinic
acid for prices the market can afford”. The current price level
is at about USD 4 – 5 per kg, but this company is targeting
substantially lower prices, “in the range of one Dollar, when
we reach maturity and produce at large scale,” Marcel van
Berkel commented.
Possible bioplastic applications
Among the possible applications for LA we find quite
a number of biopolymer-products or pre-products for
bioplastics such as Me-BDO (Methyl butanediol for biobased
polyesters or as building block for polyurethanes), Gamma
valerolactone, an amino acid to make Nylons or specialty
acrylates, DPA (Diphenolic acid to replace BPA, Bisphenol A,
in Epoxies or Polycarbonate. BPA is cheaper but toxic),
Co-nutrients during PHB production with metabolically
engineered strains, and many more.
Markets for levulinic acid and its derivatives include
furthermore green solvents, coatings and resins, plasticizers,
but also flavours and fragrances, personal care and
pharmaceutical products, agrochemicals, fuel additives and
biofuels.
LA from renewable resources
Traditionally levulinic acid is produced from petroleum via
butane/benzene. “The first biobased routes went through
furfural and furfuryl alcohole”, said Aris de Rijke, Director
Technology & Engineering. “We however, go a direct route
from biomass in a continuous process. Today we are using
industrial corn starch, but in the long run we aim at using
wood waste or other cellulosic waste streams such as straw
or bagasse”.
And a share of the energy used to run the process comes
from char, a by-product of the LA-production from biomass.
All in all, levulinic acid is a product of which we can expect
interesting developments. Or maybe even “the transition to a
new economy”, as Maxim Kativov said. MT
[1] www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/35523.pdf
www.gfbiochemicals.com
Pre-treatment Reactor Flash
Energy recovery
Cellulosic Biomass
Steam
Proprietary technology
Solid/liquid
separatrion
Product
recovery &
concentration
Final
purification
Biochar
Steam
O
CH 3
HO
O
Levulinic acid
20 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/16] Vol. 11