Direct fermentation for Isobutene, Butadiene, and propylene production: a platform for renewable plastics, synthetic rubber, and fuels

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Leslie Thornton
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1 Direct fermentation for Isobutene, Butadiene, and propylene production: a platform for renewable plastics, synthetic rubber, and fuels December 9 th 2014

2 Recent news 2

3 3 Global Bioenergies at a glance Mission: Converting renewable resources into light olefins through direct fermentation Located in Genopole, the number 1 biotech cluster in France >60 employees, international Scientific Advisory Board Listed on NYSE Alternext since June 2011, market cap 130 million $ 9/2012: Most Innovative European SME (EuropaBio Award) Collaborations with Audi, Synthos, Arkema, LanzaTech

4 4 Producing olefins in a different way GASEOUS OLEFINS Ethylene Propylene N-Butenes Butadiene Isobutene Isoprene

5 5 Light olefins: a global market of $300 billion Volume (Mt) Price ($/kg) Market (b$) Main applications Ethylene Polyethylene (60%) Propylene Polypropylene (65%) Linear butenes Isobutene Butadiene Co-monomers in various plastics Tires, organic glass, PET, fuels Tires, nylon, coating polymers Isoprene Tires, adhesives Total % of oil consumption 7 1 ICIS statistics January 29 th, SRI reports 3 Platts February Platts October Nexant March DeWitt March GBE calculations from BP statistics 2013

6 6 Conventional petroleum cracking Ethylene Light olefin market dynamics Ethylene production Propylene (C3) Shale gas cracking Isobutene Butenes Butadiene Other (C4) C3 / C4 production The deployment of the shale gas industry results in ethylene overproduction and in a progressive shortage of propylene, isobutene and butadiene

7 7 Opportunity Market trends create a need for alternative routes to isobutene, butadiene and propylene Chemical routes: Several routes to propylene Difficult access to butadiene No route to isobutene described so far Biological routes: State-of-the-art approaches cannot be used in the case of light olefins. A breakthrough innovation was required to address this opportunity

8 8 State of the art Starting point: a natural strain that produces small amounts of the compound of interest. Development and industrialization: Improvement of enzymes and metabolic pathways. Construction of industrial strains and development of lab-scale process. Scale-up of the fermentation process and downstream process engineering. This approach works well for compounds found in nature (propanediol, succinic acid, isobutanol, ). It cannot be used for gaseous olefins as they are not produced by microorganisms in nature.

artificial metabolic pathways Genetically engineered microorganism

9 Artificial metabolic pathways The bioproduction of light olefins required a breakthrough innovation, based on the development of artificial metabolic pathways Genetically engineered microorganism Undescribed enzymatic reactions Glucose Isobutene Non typical-metabolic intermediates 9

10 A two-step technology I - Fermentation II -

Breakthrough technology by direct fermentation to a

PROPYLENE No product associated toxicity

10 10 A two-step technology I - Fermentation II - Purification BUTADIENE Glucose Saccharose ISOBUTENE Breakthrough technology by direct fermentation to a gas Combination of proven petrochemical modules PROPYLENE No product associated toxicity Pre-purification by product volatilization High performance Simple design

11 11 Industrial pilots Pomacle Berlin Germany Paris Leuna France

12 12 First industrial pilot BioDémo platform of the Pomacle-Bazancourt industrial site 500L fermenter Maximum capacity: 10 tons per year Simplified purification: oxidation-grade isobutene Applications: Methacrylic acid (< $1bn) and Plexiglas ($7bn) Public funding: Investissements d avenir ( 4m)

13 13 Fraunhofer CBP in the refinery of Leuna - unique combination of expertise in fermentation and olefin chemistry 5000L fermenters Maximum capacity: 100 tons per year Complete purification to high-purity isobutene Engineering performed by Second industrial pilot Financing supported by a 5.7m grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

14 14 Isobutene: a wide product tree SOLID LIQUID 8 carbons Butyl rubber Gasoline 12 carbons Organic glass Jetfuel Methacrylic Acid ISOBUTENE Diesel 16 carbons >80 carbons Plastics Industrial lubricants carbons

15 15 Butadiene: markets and distribution of rights 3 million tons Glucose 7 million tons ABS plastics Rubber Carpet backing, coatings Nylon BUTADIENE Opportunity for further industrial agreements Royalties to be paid to Global Bioenergies

16 16 Propylene and derivatives Super-absorbents Hard plastics Varnishes PROPYLENE Solvents Foams Synthetic textiles

Key dates and events Propylene and butadiene proofs of concept Launch of the industrial pilots phase Isooctane collaboration 2014 Butadiene partnership 2013 Isobutene

17 Key dates and events Propylene and butadiene proofs of concept Launch of the industrial pilots phase Isooctane collaboration 2014 Butadiene partnership 2013 Isobutene proof of concept License option US Fortune 500 company m raised 2008 Inception Venture capital 3.2m raised IPO 37.2m raised since company inception 17

18 18 Contact David Gogerty Business Development Manager

Direct fermentation to bio-based isobutene, a platform to fuels and chemicals. October 2017

Direct fermentation to bio-based isobutene, a platform to fuels and chemicals October 2017 2 Mission Develop processes converting 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd generation feedstocks into renewable fuels and materials