Cargill and Novozymes join forces to generate acrylic acid from readily-available sugars

It was announced today that Cargill and Novozymes will jointly develop technology to produce acrylic acid using the fermentation of a renewable resource (glucose or other readily-available carbohydrate sources). The project is supported by $1.5 mio matching funds from the US Department of Energy.

The work involves the fermentation of sugar in the presence of a bio-engineered micro-organism to produce 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HPA). The 3-HPA can then be converted into a range of valuable chemicals including acrylic acid, which is a valuable, high volume chemical used in plastics, fiber, coatings, paints, inks and super-absorbent diapers (disposable nappies). In paper chemicals it finds use in water soluble polymers, flocculants, retention aids, coating binders etc

Currently, most acrylic acid is produced in the petrochemical industry by oxidation of propylene, a C-3 fraction from the refining of crude oil. More than half of the produced acrylic acid is used to make glacial acrylic acid for superabsorbents used in products such as diapers. This new approach from Cargill and Novozymes will not rely on crude oil but will move into the hotly debated area of using what is potentially a food source to generate chemicals (using food materials to generate bio-fuels is where most of the current debate exists as although it is an option to move away from the reliance on non-renewable crude oil, there has been an impact on world food prices).

Genencor launch commercial enzyme for cellulose ethanol

Genencor, a division of Danisco A/S, today announced a new product, Accellerase™ 1000, which is claimed to be the first ever commercially available biomass enzyme developed specifically for second generation biorefineries.

The product contains complex of enzymes that reduces lignocellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars -- a key step for the production of cellulosic ethanol.

Genencor state that, 'Commercial interest in second generation biorefineries, driven in part by government policies to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and increase energy independence, has accelerated over the past two years in the USA and around the world. Accellerase™ 1000 will fill a large unmet need for reliable biomass enzyme supply to pilot and demonstration plant developers who are actively working on process development, scale up and integration.'

It is worth reading the Big Biofuels blog of Simon Robinson (ICIS) for additional comments and perspectives on the announcement.

The future for paper chemicals ..... some views from suppliers, users and a consultant

Some leading suppliers, users and a consultant were asked for their views on the future of paper chemicals and an interesting summary is given in the Tappi Paper 360 article by Glen Ostle. Topics include:

• Investment in R&D - various figures are given for the percentage an total amounts that companies spend but in my experience there is not a common definition of R&D and companies like to bolster the figures by including all technically-related activities as R&D. R&D spending of 2.5-3% of sales is mentioned, but inreality the figure is probably closer to 2%.
  
• Market drivers - cost is always high on the list and with escalating energy, raw material, transport and regulatory costs, this is not surprising. Other drivers include, environmental issues such as sustainability, use of renewable resources and compliance with changing regulation. The increasing need for strength is mentioned, driven by fibre shortage (use of alternative fibres), recycling and the need to use less fibre (cost). Increased demand for water-treatment chemicals, especially in India and China. De-inking will increase and demand for innovation in this area will continue.
  
• Future product demands - new coating binders based on natural products/renewable resources (eg biopolymer latexes). Recyclable barrier coatings. Biotechnology will play an increasingly important role as will the environmental agenda.
  
• Industry consolidation - the paper chemical supply industry remains very fragmented and future consolidation is inevitable. The emergence of a few global leaders plus specialists in certain stand-alone segments is expected. Surprisingly, no mention is made of the rapid growth of quality manufacturers and suppliers from India and China, perhaps because there were no contributors with strong experience of the supply industry in these emerging markets (or they preferred to live in denial of the impact that not-traditional suppliers are having in the market).
  

The article is interesting and more a confirmation of grass-root thinking rather than offering any new ideas.

The views of people from the following companies are given: Nalco, Hercules Paper Technologies & Ventures, Minerals Technologies, Klass Associates, Kemira Pulp & Paper, Buckman Laboratories, Dow Chemicals, Omya and Cargill.

Using biotechnology to develop new uses for sugar-cane bagasse

Interested in biotechnology or the use of alternative fibres? An article published in TAPPSA reports on a non-polluting process, using a filamentous fungus, Pycnoporus cinnabarinus, which produces a delignifying enzyme, laccase, that effectively recycles the sugar-cane bagasse. The enzyme breaks down the lignin in the bagasse fibres and, after mechanical refining, into paper pulp, the lignin starts to disappear and the pulp becomes 'bleached'. This pulp can be used as it is to make cardboard, but it must undergo additional treatment using hydrogen peroxide in order to yield paper for printed and writing papers.

P. cinnabarinus naturally synthesizes only small amounts of laccase when it grows on bagasse and it is necessary to add a volatile agent such as ethanol, to increase production of the enzyme. Ethanol was chosen as a laccase-inducer because of its abundance, its low toxicity and low production cost.

Early days but another step on the road to using laccases. There may be fears of using volatile solvents in pulp mills because of some disastrous experiences in the past, but it should be possible to handle ethanol on an industrial scale.

The work was reported by Marie Guillaume-Signoret – Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement (IRD).