Global Bioenergies gets EUR 1.5m for bio-based butadiene milestone

Dec 6, 2012 - French firm Global Bioenergies (EPA:ALGBE) has finalised phase one of a project with Polish Synthos (WAR:DWR) to develop a renewable feedstock-to-butadiene process, triggering a EUR-1.5-million (USD 2m) milestone payment.

The two companies agreed a strategic partnership in July last year, the first phase of which called for the discovery of metabolic pathways to convert renewable resources into butadiene via a direct, gaseous fermentation process. Alternative fuels specialist Global Bioenergies said in a statement today that a direct biological route to butadiene had now been experimentally proven, the first such achievement ever.

The butadiene programme now moves into the development phase, for which Global Bioenergies will receive several million euros overall in the form of yearly fees from synthetic rubber maker Synthos.

Currently, the annual production of butadiene from oil stands at 10 million tonnes, a market worth over USD 20 billion, the statement says. Of that, 7 million tones are used to make rubbers and the rest to produce nylon, plastics and latexes.

Global Bioenergies said it would get royalty payments from Synthos on bio-based butadiene for the production of rubber, while keeping the exclusive rights for non-rubber applications.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.307)

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