Geleen, The Netherlands - Reverdia announced 13 Dec that it has begun operations in Cassano Spinola, Italy, at a commercial-scale plant producing Biosuccinium sustainable succinic acid.
The company claims the 10 kilotonnes per annum plant is unique, as "the world's first dedicated large-scale plant for the production of succinic acid from renewable resources."
It is also, claims Reverdia, the only commercial facility to benefit from experience gained using low-pH yeast technology on a demonstration-plant scale. Reverdia regards this as essential to be able to promise further improvements in product quality.
"The new phase will enable direct and indirect customers to start production of commercial scale volumes of materials and end products based on bio-based succinic acid. These will be the first Biosuccinium-based products to find operational use in industry and to show up on retail shelves," said Will van den Tweel, Reverdia's general manager, in a company statement.
Reverdia is a joint venture between life sciences and materials sciences company DSM and Roquette Freres, a global producer of starch and starch-derivatives.
Key applications for Biosuccinium include polyester polyols for polyurethanes, coating and composite resins, phthalate-free plasticisers, and 1,4 butanediol, as well as polybutylene succinate (PBS).
End products include footwear, packaging and paints.
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