A new molecule for the green­ing of C5 chemistry

Glob­al Bioen­er­gies has developed a pro­cess for con­vert­ing plant resources into isob­utene, one of the main build­ing blocks of chem­istry, whose deriv­at­ives are used in cos­met­ics, fine chem­ic­als, com­mod­it­ies and fuels. A pro­duc­tion unit is cur­rently under con­struc­tion in Pomacle to serve high value-added markets.

One of the inter­me­di­ates in the isob­utene syn­thes­is path­way is of indus­tri­al interest: this 5‑carbon inter­me­di­ate, pren­ic acid, is also known as ​“methyl-cro­ton­ic acid”, ​“dimethyl-acryl­ic acid” and ​“sene­cic acid” (CAS 541−47−9).

Its two chem­ic­al func­tions (acid and vinyl) allow it to be used in a mul­ti­tude of com­pounds that are cur­rently derived from pet­ro­leum and used most not­ably in fla­vours, per­fumes and food additives.

As Frédéric Olli­vi­er, Chief Tech­nic­al Officer of Glob­al Bioen­er­gies, explains, ​“This is the first time this molecule has been pro­duced from renew­able resources. The pro­duc­tion pro­cess for our bio­sourced pren­ic acid is now mature: it was developed in a labor­at­ory set­ting and was brought to full indus­tri­al scale in 2021. We have already pro­duced sev­er­al tonnes of it. We have also developed a puri­fic­a­tion pro­cess, achiev­ing pur­ity read­ings of over 99%. Sev­er­al major chem­ic­al com­pan­ies have already expressed an interest in this molecule. We are pre­par­ing a sampling cam­paign for the spring.”

Marc Del­court, co-founder and CEO of Glob­al Bioen­er­gies, added: ​“This pro­cess for the bio­lo­gic­al pro­duc­tion of pren­ic acid is an oppor­tun­ity to diver­si­fy our product port­fo­lio. We are provid­ing the C5 chem­istry industry, which spans all molecules built from 5‑carbon build­ing blocks, with a new way of ensur­ing nat­ur­al­ness and improv­ing the envir­on­ment­al foot­print of count­less products.”