Clariant Licenses Cellulosic Ethanol Technology to Enviral

Clariant and Enviral Inc, the largest producer of bioethanol in Slovakia, have signed a license agreement on sunliquid cellulosic ethanol technology.

Enviral has acquired a license to use Clariant's sunliquid technology as part of its goal to realize a full-scale commercial cellulosic ethanol plant for the commercial production of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues.

This new plant will be owned and operated by Enviral and is planned to be integrated into the existing facilities at Enviral's Leopoldov site in Slovakia with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tonnes. It will use Clariant's sunliquid technology as well as starter cultures from its proprietary enzyme and yeast platforms to process Enviral feedstock into cellulosic ethanol.

Clariant and Enviral conducted extensive tests of Enviral's feedstock with Clariant's technology to ensure effective and efficient compatibility. These tests, conducted at Clariant's pre-commercial sunliquid demonstration plant in Straubing (Germany), provided excellent results and formed the basis for the project decision. Next steps are detailed engineering studies before the official groundbreaking which is expected at the end of 2017.

As a further step in the commercialization of sunliquid, Clariant decided to set-up a new business line Biofuels, as part of the business area Catalysis, which is responsible for further developing the biofuels business across the board and report its performance.

Cellulosic ethanol is an advanced and truly sustainable biofuel which is almost carbon neutral. It is produced from agricultural residues such as wheat straw and corn stover that is obtained from farmers. By using agricultural residue, cellulosic ethanol can extend current biofuels production to new feedstocks and improved performance.

The sunliquid technology offers a completely integrated process design built on established process technology. Innovative technology features like the integrated production of feedstock and process specific enzymes and simultaneous C5 and C6 fermentation ensure best commercial performance.

“This step comes as a logical consequence of Clariant's successful innovation strategy and will provide additional growth above and beyond Clariant's current strong portfolio. Cellulosic ethanol has significant potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and we are proud in making it a reality,” said Christian Kohlpaintner, member of the executive committee at Clariant.

“With the cooperation with Clariant, the Slovak plant of Enviral will be one of the first plants in Europe to start commercial production of advanced biofuel. This exceptional project is the result of intensive work, searching for optimal solutions, as well as the successful technology validation carried out in Clariant´s pre-commercial plant with biomass supplied from Slovakia,” added Matej Sabol, CEO of Enviral.