During the course of five weeks of production at the end of last year, US biochemical company Genomatica (San Diego, California; www.genomatica.com) and DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products Company (Loudon, Tennessee / USA; www.duponttateandlyle.com) turned out more than 2,000 t of 1,4-butanediol (BDO) using Genomatica’s bio-based manufacturing process based on the direct fermentation of conventional sugars. “This marks the first time that BDO has been produced biologically on this scale and at this rate,” Genomatica said.

The material was produced at DuPont Tate & Lyle’s biochemical plant at group headquarters in Loudon, Tennessee, where the company already turns out 1,3-propanediol (PDO) in commercial volumes. Genomatica said the success of the project was largely based on the previous demonstration-scale production both companies tried and tested at its facility in Decatur, Illinois / USA.

The US biochemical company has a number of projects in the pipeline, including a bio-based BDO joint venture with Mitsubishi Chemical Corp (MCC, Tokyo / Japan; www.m-kagaku.co.jp) – see Plasteurope.com of 09.03.2012 – as well as a collaboration with Versalis (Milan / Italy; www.polimerieuropa.com) and Novamont (Novara / Italy; www.novamont.com) to develop butadiene from renewable feedstocks – see Plasteurope.com of 26.07.2012.