Clariant & EtaBio signed a license for cellulosic ethanol technology

On August 5th, Clariant and Pavlovi family company Eta Bio announced the signing of the sunliquid® cellulosic ethanol technology license agreement.

Eta Bio is a newly established company that aims to build, own and operate a full-scale commercial plant that uses agricultural waste to produce cellulosic ethanol. For Clariant, the signing of the fourth license agreement maintains the momentum of its innovative and sustainable sunliquid® technology, marking another important step towards commercialization of this technology.

"Our sunliquid® technology leads the development trend of sustainable and advanced biofuels. The continued success strongly proves that our technology meets the market's demand for sustainable solutions and brings us a competitive advantage," Hans Bohnen, chief operating officer of Ryan, said.

Christian Librera, Global Director of Clariant’s Biofuels and Derivatives Business, added: “Following the signing of licensing agreements with first-generation ethanol producers and oil and gas producers, we are very pleased to leverage sunliquid® technology in another important customer segment— —Agricultural sector — gain a firm foothold.”

Eta Bio will use the available land and existing infrastructure owned by the Pavlovi family to carry out project development and factory operations on the green space of General Toshevo in northeastern Bulgaria. The planned annual production capacity is 50,000 tons of cellulosic ethanol and about 250,000 tons of wheat straw. The region is rich in wheat straw resources and is known as Bulgaria’s granary.

"The realization of the first cellulosic ethanol production project in Bulgaria will help solve a major challenge facing agricultural producers in the region-removing straw from farmland. This project will give us the opportunity to obtain additional revenue from agricultural waste. "Eta Bio's managing director Kiril Pavlov emphasized.

By using local raw materials, greenhouse gases can be minimized and more business opportunities can be created along the entire value chain.

"We are very pleased to enter the renewable energy sector through this project, and as a result become a pioneer in the Bulgarian advanced biofuel market. Through this project, our business portfolio is further diversified and our position in the agricultural sector is strengthened," the group Hristo Pavlov, the co-head of the agricultural business, emphasized.

For Bulgaria, this is an important investment in the field of green and sustainable technology. The produced cellulosic ethanol will be used as a gasoline additive to meet the country’s advanced biofuel blending requirements specified in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II.

The project includes the licensing of sunliquid® basic process packages, the provision of technical services, and the supply of special microorganisms used to prepare Clariant’s proprietary enzymes and yeasts, so that Eta Bio’s raw materials can be processed into cellulosic ethanol.