BioAmber, a leader in renewable chemistry, announced opening of world’s largest succinic plant in Sarnia, Canada, that was built with Mitsui & Co and uses biotechnology to produce sustainable chemicals from sugar.
BioAmber is committed to producing chemicals in a more environmentally responsible manner. By using renewable feedstock, eliminating green house gas emissions and substantially reducing energy consumption, the company headquartered in Montreal is practicing greener chemistry that is sustainable. When its Sarnia plant begins production in 2015, it will have an impressive carbon footprint relative to the existing method of producing succinic acid from petroleum. The bio-based process for making succinic acid will result in a 100% reduction in green house gas emissions and a 60% reduction in energy consumption.
An independent life cycle analysis, which evaluated the entire production chain from the planting and harvesting of corn through to the purification of succinic acid, revealed that net green house gas emissions for the entire process is zero. This represents a 100% reduction relative to the 7.1 tons of greenhouse gases that are emitted per ton of succinic acid produced using the petroleum process.
At full capacity (30,000 tons of succinic acid per year), the Sarnia facility will reduce green house gas emissions by over 210,000 tons per year, relative to the petroleum process. This is the equivalent of taking 45,000 cars off the road each year. The life cycle analysis also revealed that the entire process (corn to succinic) uses 60% less energy than the petroleum-derived process, a savings of over 2 trillion BTUs per year. That is the equivalent to the energy consumed by 46,000 US homes annually.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 