Global Bioenergies installs central unit at demo plant in Leuna

German industrial group Global Bioenergies has completed installation of the central unit at its demo plant, located in Leuna, 40 days ahead of schedule.

The central unit’s core is a stainless steel 5,000l fermenter, which is 10 times bigger than the current pilot unit operating in Pomacle, France.

The early installation will also help the company to complete construction of the plant ahead of schedule.

Global Bioenergies industrial strategy head and IBN-One CEO Bernard Chaud said: "This demo plant prefigures IBN-One, the first commercial plant with an annual capacity of 50,000t, planned in France in partnership with Cristal Union.

"We are already scaling up our commercial activities: requests from industry for test isobutene batches are on the increase with the prospect of ordering large quantities of this renewable hydrocarbon in the future."

The connection work of the downstream unit is scheduled in the second quarter of next year and the company expects to start the demo plant in summer.

The downstream unit will purify isobutene up to 99.7%.

Global Bioenergies co-founder and CEO Marc Delcourt said: "We are maintaining the pace of industrial scale-up against the backdrop of growing environmental awareness across the world, despite the temporary fall in oil prices.

"In the short term, our target markets are largely decorrelated from the price of oil: hundreds of thousands of tonnes of isobutene have the potential for use in applications that valorize sustainable supply chains.

"These include specialty chemicals, cosmetics or biofuels. They constitute ample natural markets for IBN-One. The recovery to normal oil pricing levels in the medium term will allow the Isobutene process to be operated profitably in all its applications, representing a market worth US$ 20 billion."

In October, the company received the first set of equipment for Leuna demo plant from a local equipment supplier.

The package includes fermentation auxiliaries and structures. Following the delivery of the package, construction at Leuna site was started.

Currently, the company is developing a process, which will convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons via fermentation.