This is Doris blogging under Tecnon OrbiChem (cool huh?). The blog will soon see views from under TOC analysts reporting on biobased chemicals so stay tune!

Meanwhile, here is a news that I stumbled upon while doing some research on Myriant’s recent announcement on its commercial production of bio-succinic acid in Leuna, Germany.

Myriant and its major investor PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) of Thailand announced in May that they are forming a joint venture company called Auria BioChemical Co. Ltd. The goal of the joint venture is to conduct research and development of bio-based chemicals and to eventually invest in a commercial scale production plant in Southeast Asia.

Auria BioChemical has been registered in Thailand with a capital of 90m Baht ($3m) which PTTGC holds 54% of total share with an investment of 48.6m Baht.

PTTGC also already holds 47.25% of Myriant stakes via PTT Chemical International Pvt Ltd., which is 100% owned by PTTGC.

A Myriant spokesperson said they are planning a formal announcement with respect to the Auria BioChemical JV soon.

In the meantime, Myriant announced last week that it has successfully scaled and commercially-produced bio-succinic acid at ThyssenKrupp Uhde’s biotech commercial validation facility in Leuna, Germany. The production reportedly meets targets for commercial yield and product quality.

According to the Myriant spokesperson, the company has been producing bio-succinic acid in Leuna since April this year and has achieved 3m lbs/year (1,360 tonnes/year) operating rate in the plant. Myriant and ThyssenKrupp Uhde have worked together since 2009 with the goal of making their bio-succinic acid process cost-competitive and to produce the highest purity product at commercial-scale.

Future Myriant plants will be built by Uhde. If I recall, the Leuna plant was initially reported to have a capacity to produce 5,000 tonnes/year of bio-succinic acid. Uhde owns and operate the facility.

Last year, Uhde announced its offering to construct facilities that can produce at least 40,000 tonnes/year of renewable-based polybutylene succinate (PBS) that can either be completely or partially bio-based. The biodegradable polymer PBS is produced from succinic acid and 1,4 butanediol (BDO) in a continuous polycondensation process.

Myriant will definitely gain on this projects if the PBS plants will be vertically integrated with bio-succinic acid production using Myriant’s technology processing. Myriant has also partnered with Davy Process Technology for the integration of Myriant’s bio-succinic acid process where succinic acid is used as feedstock to produce bio-based BDO using the Davy BDO process.

Myriant has already completed construction of the first commercial bio-succinic acid plant in North America last April with a capacity of 30m lbs/year (14,000 tonnes/year) located in Lake Providence, Louisiana, US.  The facility is currently being commissioned. Myriant declined to comment on the current operating rate of the Louisiana plant.