03. Mar 2015
GFBiochemicals say levulinic acid technology is now ready for commercialization
Italian biobased chemicals company GFBiochemicals, specialized in in the research, development and production of biobased chemicals and fuels, has announced that it is starting commercialization of its levulinic acid, thanks to its proprietary breakthrough technology.
GFBiochemicals’ process technology has been developed and tested at demo scale since 2008. The company said that commercial scale production will start this summer at its Caserta, Italy plant. The innovative new production line at the Caserta Plant will come online with an annual capacity of 2,000 MT, making it the world’s largest levulinic acid plant producing directly from biomass. This plant will provide design and operating data for future production, allowing annual capacity to scale up to 8,000 MT/yr by 2017. A continuous production approach has been developed, which offers reliable supply to service new markets.
Levulinic acid is a platform chemical with significant potential to replace petroleum-based products in the chemical and biofuel sectors. It is a bio-based organic compound derived from raw materials such as biomass, manure, bagasse, and brewery waste. In a recent study from Research and Markets, entitled Global Levulinic Acid Market 2015-2019, analysts forecast the Global Levulinic Acid market to grow at a CAGR of 4.52 percent over the period 2014-2019.
At GFBiochemicals, an experienced management team has now been put in place to take the company forward. Marcel van Berkel is GFBiochemicals Chief Commercial Officer. Van Berkel spent over 25 years at Solvay and DSM, including in DSM’s Bio-based Products and Services division. Davide Gremmi joins as Chief Financial Officer. Gremmi has over 20 years’ finance experience, most recently at Chemtex Group. Marcello Taglietti is Chief Operating Officer with over 20 years’ experience, including at Air Products and Ashland. ! Rudy Parton and Aris de Rijke will spearhead R&D as Director Technology & Applications Development and Director Technology & Engineering. Both have over 25 years’ experience at DSM and Shell.
As CEO Maxim Katinov said: “Our team of experts has decades of experience in innovation, production and business development. We are now perfectly placed to bring biobased levulinic acid to market and enable new applications that will replace petro-based products.” (KL)
http://www.gfbiochemicals.com