Eni's chemicals subsidiary, Versalis has inked a memorandum of understanding with Novamont, a provider of biodegradable plastics, and Genomatica, a process technology developer for renewable chemicals, to form a strategic collaboration to manufacture butadiene from renewable feedstock.
Butadiene is used as a raw material to manufacture rubber for asphalt modifiers, plastics, footwear, electrical appliances and tires, and additives for latex, building components, pipes, and lubricating oil. A joint venture will be formed on the basis of this partnership to develop a complete ‘end-to-end’ process for manufacturing polymer-grade butadiene using biomass as feedstock.
Versalis will be the majority stakeholder in the joint venture holding company and plans to build commercial facilities utilizing the process technology if the project successes. This cooperation will leverage Novamont's expertise in renewable feedstocks; Versalis' core competency in catalysis process advancement and process engineering development, and commercial purposes of butadiene derivatives; and Genomatica's intellectual property and proprietary technologies for manufacturing butadiene.
This partnership enables Versalis to utilize Genomatica's process technology for sustainable manufacturing of a key supply-constrained chemical at an affordable cost. As part of the deal, the process technology is expected to be available for future licensing in Asia, Africa and Europe. Butadiene is an essential intermediate product for Versalis elastomers business.
Scarcity issues in the butadiene market increases the cost of butadiene-based products such as tires. In this scenario, butadiene production from biomass is a strategic move by Versalis, as it can shun naphtha cracking processes during C4 stream scarcity. Hence, the partnership provides the opportunity to increase butadiene supply and augment its bio-based portfolio.
Source: http://www.eni.com