Swiss Company Expands Feedstocks for Ethanol Production

Switzerland-based specialty chemicals company Clariant AG announced that it has expanded the feedstocks for its proprietary ethanol process to include corn stover and sugarcane bagasse.

Clariant began operating its demonstration-scale facility in Germany about a year ago to pilot its Sunliquid process for cellulosic ethanol production. The Sunliquid process is a fully-integrated enzymatic hydrolysis that uses highly optimized feedstock-specific enzymes and hydrothermal pretreatment at very mild conditions. The process is flexible and effective with different feedstocks.

Clariant is now expanding beyond wheat straw to include corn stover and sugarcane bagasse, both are plant residues that pose no competition with food production. Corn stover is primarily important in North America, where 570 million tons are left after corn harvest every year. In Brazil, ethanol production could be increased by some 50 percent compared to current levels by using excess bagasse.

Cellulosic ethanol production via the Sunliquid process has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 95 percent compared to fossil fuels. Clariant plans to construct its first commercial production facility, with a target capacity of some 50,000 to 150,000 tons per year, as the next step towards full commercialization of the Sunliquid process.