Abengoa to launch bio-alcohols production in early 2016

Interview article by Yana Palagacheva

LONDON (ICIS)–If you look at a chemical conversion table, it will tell you that oxo-alcohols are based on propylene with a 0.70- 0.80 input factor depending on the product.

Seville-based biofuels and energy producer Abengoa, however, is challenging the traditional method by offering a sustainable alternative.

The company’s portfolio so far includes producing drinking water from sea water, generating electricity from renewable resource and converting biomass to biofuels.

Abengoa’s new project is the production of bio-butanol from bio-ethanol, which should be launched at the beginning of 2016.

The company’s involvement in the biofuels industry has so far been only done through the production of bio-ethanol, which it first did in Spain in 1999.

In 2002, the company started producing in the US and later expanded its activities in Europe. In 2006, Abengoa acquired two ethanol facilities in Brazil that it converted into bio-ethanol.

It produces ethanol from corn, wheat or barley in Europe; from corn and sorghum in the US; from sugar cane in Brazil and is now in process of starting to produce ethanol from biomass in the US.

“We are the main producer in Europe and one of the main producers in the US. At this moment bio-ethanol is our main product,” said Ricardo Arjona Antolin, executive vice president at Abengoa Biotechnology.

Abengoa has two bio-ethanol plants in Brazil, six plants in the US and five plants in Europe. Additionally the company owns one bio-diesel plant in Europe and is in the ramp-up process for a second generation ethanol facility in the US

Arjona estimates that Abengoa holds around 25% of the European ethanol market share, compared to 2-3% of the US market share.  

After successfully establishing its alternative ethanol production route, Abengoa is now seeking to diversify its portfolio with its bio-alcohols project, particularly bio-butanol.

“We have quite a wide branch of final products and right now we want to come within the bio-chemical sector through the butanol project,” Arjona said.

Abengoa has developed a catalytic process to convert bioethanol into bio n-butanol. The company will also produce bio n-octanol, n-decanol and 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH).

Abengoa will be able to use ethanol from all its production routes.

“Right now we are promoting our first industrial facility- we will use the ethanol of one of our facilities that we don’t need to modify. To produce ethanol into butanol we can use any kind of industrial ethanol – we have done testing with ethanol from Europe, US and Brazil coming from different feedstock,” said Arjona.

In terms of capacity, Abengoa is considering two alternatives – converting half or 100% of its facility in Nebraska, the US, for the project, which will respectively equal 90,000 or 180,000 tonnes/year of product.

If opting for a 90,000 tonne/year capacity, the plant will be able to annually produce 70,000 tonnes of n-butanol, 10,000 tonnes of n-octanol and 10,000 tonnes of other alcohols.

Despite the n-butanol accounting for the bulk of the production though, Arjona stresses on the importance of other products too.

“Products like octanol and decanol are very interesting for the market because there is a shortage in the offer of those alcohols, and there are many applications that are not developed from them simply because there is not enough product available,” he said.

“We are not just producing these alcohols from a green source but we are producing them with a very high purity. That is very important, because sometimes it’s not easy to separate some specific compounds within these products through standard routes. We have sent products to potential customers and to third party lab and the quality is very high,” he added. 

Abengoa is looking to launch the product in the US although it has been evaluating other alternatives.

“We chose the US because of the market and economics, we understand this is a global product and if you evaluate all the conditions, the position of the US is more competitive. Brazil is another area of interest too,” said Arjona.

Abengoa, however, does not want to limit itself to just one region and will look to expand to other markets.

“Later on we are going to look at other areas because there are more and more countries that are starting to produce ethanol I am pretty sure that we will find options in China and other areas for production. And China is a very interesting market as Asia is a significant consumer of chemicals.”

The plant is scheduled to be launched in the beginning of 2016 and be ready for production at the end of 2017.

When asked about the current stage of the project Arjona said: “We are in the stage of promoting the project. We are looking for strategic partners to off-take the products and taking part in the project. We are at the beginning of our evaluation but we are basically finding a lot of interest in the market for the products.”

In terms of target market, Abengoa is looking to compete with the oxo-alcohols coming from a traditional production route and has evaluated that its production costs will allow it to do so.

“We understand that our product is very attractive because of its renewable origin, but we are conscious that we need to be competitive and we have done our homework to get it,” said Arjona.

“I think in the chemical sector right now the situation is certainly not clear, because the current oil prices are changing completely the market, but in any case at this low oil prices our product is competitive. In that sense, we think that we are in a good position for the future,” he added. 

Abengoa has had third party evaluations of its technology and is now working with potential partners experienced in the chemical area, which makes Arjona conclude:

“I think we are providing something unique to the market in this aspect-probably it’s the first bio chemical that really can be competitive.”

Image above: Campus Palmas Altas, Abengoa’s headquarters in Calle Energía Solar (2011) in Seville, Spain.
Source: www.abengoa.com