Construction has begun on a testing and development facility for a bio-based process to produce benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) from woody biomass. The test facility is intended to demonstrate all unit operations and prove process economics for the Bio-TCat process, a proprietary thermal catalytic biomass-conversion technology developed by Anellotech Inc. (Pearl River, N.Y.; www.anellotech.com) in partnership with IFP Energies Nouvelles (Rueill-Malmaison, France; www.ifpenergiesnouvelles.com), a public-sector research institute, Axens (Rueill-Malmaison, France; www.axens.net) and Johnson-Matthey Catalysts (London, U.K.; www.matthey.com).
The facility, known as TCat-8, has been pre-fabricated on skids and will be installed and operational by the end of 2016 at an existing chemical production site known as South Hampton Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Trecora Resources, in Silsbee, Tex., says Anellotech CEO David Sudolsky. It will process about 1,000 lb/d of biomass when commissioned.
The biomass conversion technology has been advanced and scaled up since the company was formed to commercialize catalytic fast-pyrolysis technology developed in the laboratory of George Huber at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst; www.umass.edu), but the fundamental elements of the technology remain the same ( Chem. Eng., August, 2009, p. 13). The process is capable of generating cost-competitive BTX using a one-reactor system directly from non-food biomass, Sudolsky says. Anellotech is working with Johnson-Matthey on a new variation of its catalyst, and with IFP on process technology for the fluid-bed reactor and the overall process development program.
Anellotech has received several significant investments in the technology in the past year, including from the beverage company Suntory, which is interested in bio-based aromatic chemicals for making renewable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drink bottles.