GFBiochemicals Ltd. (Milan, Italy; www.gfbiochemicals.com) and American Process Inc. (API), leaders in the global bio-product industry, are pleased to announce that they have entered into a joint development agreement to create the largest integrated cellulosic bio-refinery in the world.
The agreement between API and GFBiochemicals is rooted in their complementary industrial operations and joint vision for a lower-carbon future. The proposed bio-refinery, located in the U.S, is expected to create 50,000–200,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of bio-based products, addressing markets with a potential annual value of $10 billion.
Dr. Theodora Retsina, founder and CEO of API, said: “This agreement will be instrumental in delivering the new biorefinery and introducing high- quality bio-based products to the market at commercial scale. It will exploit synergies between our two companies and bring other parties to the consortium to create a world-class integrated biorefinery. This will be a structured process, powered by both the learning from our own success and failures and those of others in this space. We are pleased to join forces with GFBiochemicals in our shared vision to develop a viable bioeconomy.”
Pasquale Granata, Co-Founder of GFBiochemicals, said: “We are proud to be working with American Process as we move to the next phase in our strategy. Over the past few years we have de-risked our patented technology and have proven that it can produce levulinic acid at a competitive cost to the oil-based equivalents. Together with American Process we will be able to scale up our production of levulinic acid as well as offering a larger variety of bio-based products to the market.”
Both companies will be active in manufacturing products at the proposed biorefinery site. These include bio-polyols, bio-plasticisers, bio-esters and bio-solvents manufactured by GF Biochemicals; and bioethanol, nanocellulosic products and sugars from wood manufactured by API.
API and GFBiochemicals will be cornerstone members of a consortium to develop the biorefinery by repurposing an old industrial site that has an existing biomass supply chain. The global market for bio-based chemical substitutes is set to grow substantially as industrial and energy companies seek environmentally sustainable alternatives for their raw materials that can compete on price and performance with oil-based equivalents. To achieve this, the proposed biorefinery will have the advantages of large scale, an established biomass supply chain, good logistics and the use of patented, proven technologies.