It has been a while since we last heard any activities in the levulinic acid space especially as there are not many players developing end-market applications in this field aside from GF Biochemicals, which has (or had?) a 10 ktpa facility in Caserta, Italy, producing fermentation-based levulinic acid. I was fortunate enough to visit the plant in 2015 and learned how levulinic acid was manufactured.

Yesterday, the blog found out that GF Biochemicals has formed a joint venture with Oman-based Towell Engineering Group called NXTLEVVEL Biochem headquartered in Geleen, the Netherlands. The JV plans to build a levulinate bio-solvent manufacturing plant scheduled to start operations in 2024. Target markets are industrial cleaning, home and personal care, coatings and agriculture.

Aris de Rijke, who joined GFBiochemicals in 2014 after a career at Shell and DSM, will act as Chief Executive Officer of NXTLEVVEL Biochem. Steve Block, former executive of Elevance Renewable Sciences, will be the Vice President of Business Development, Sales & Marketing. Rudy Parton, who has devoted most of his professional life to the development of biomass to levulinic acid and its derivatives technologies, will be the Chief Scientific Officer.

I have reached out to NXTLEVVEL Biochem hoping to learn more about the company, GF Biochemical’s manufacturing status, and revisit the market of levulinic acid and derivatives including other players in this field. All of this information will be coming out on Tecnon OrbiChem’s March Biomaterials newsletter.

In the meantime, check out Nova Institute’s latest report on levulinic acid released late last year. The report indicated that the market is still underdeveloped in terms of production technology and market demand. It is expected that new market segments will open due to the potential of its derivatives, especially and among others: levulinic esters, methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF), γ-valerolactone (GVL), diphenolic acid (DPA), oligomers for transport fuels and levulinic acid derived ketals. For those markets, a driver for change will be a combination of additional performance and price. Product availability and security of supply are also important decision factors for change.