Global Bioenergies (Evry / France; www.global-bioenergies.com) has successfully scaled up the production process for gaseous isobutene by fermentation at its demonstration plant in Leuna / Germany. The French biotech firm said run length and performance of the 5,000-litre fermenter at the German site exceeded that of the pilot plant, with a 500 litre fermenter, at Pomacle / France. The scale-up at Leuna was achieved less than five months after the start-up of the facility.

The demonstration plant’s purification unit meanwhile has been approved by the TÜV, Germany’s principal technical certification authority. After the filling station is commissioned, the plant will be fully certified for operation, so that delivery of the first batches of isobutene to partners for testing can take place in June. One of the company’s major objectives for 2017 will be to come closer to commercial performances at Leuna, said Global Bioenergies CEO Marc Delcourt.

As the direct production of gaseous isobutene by fermentation is a novel field, ”It was far from certain that we would be able to so quickly replicate at the scale of the demo plant the results achieved in smaller volumes,” said Ales Bulc, managing director of Global Bioenergies’ German subsidiary. Rick Bockrath, vice president chemical engineering, added that the process is still below commercial metrics, and efforts over the coming months will focus on improving productivity.