Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits and Braskem Announce Bio-Acetone as a Coproduction Opportunity in Ethanol Facilities

July 29, 2026

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(Lallemand/Buisness Wire) Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits' innovative yeast with Braskem's bolt-on separation technology and market development enable the production of a renewable, high-value coproduct that has consistent market demand.

Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits (LBDS), a global leader in yeast, enzymes, microbials and nutrition, and Braskem (B3: BRKM3, BRKM5, and BRKM6; NYSE: BAK; LATIBEX: XBRK), the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas and global leader in the production of biopolymers on an industrial scale, today announced an innovative bio-acetone production platform for the corn-ethanol industry that enables producers to generate a new coproduct alongside ethanol. Combining LBDS' proprietary fermentation technology with Braskem's bio-acetone recovery process, the solution creates a new revenue stream for biorefineries while maintaining ethanol production performance and providing access to a guaranteed demand for all bio-acetone produced.

“Pairing Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits’ expertise in yeast and fermentation with Braskem’s knowledge of biochemicals and biopolymers is a natural fit,” says Craig Ammann, Vice President of Business Development for LBDS. “LBDS has served ethanol producers for decades and we continuously look for options to help boost their bottom lines and shield them from market volatility. This is a unique way to do that, based on strategic partnerships.”

After five years of collaborative development and validation, Braskem and LBDS are now making the technology available to the U.S. ethanol industry. The companies have engineered an innovative yeast strain to enable bio-acetone production during fermentation, without affecting performance. Braskem developed bolt-on technology to separate the resulting bio-acetone from ethanol and will be responsible for all bio-acetone sales and market development. Acetone is a mature market with global demand of over 8 million tons per year, serving segments that are seeking new solutions from renewable sources.

“The team at LBDS brought their expertise in yeast and their extensive knowledge of the ethanol industry, complemented by our experience in chemicals and bioproducts, to make this collaboration a success,” says Cirilo Vieira, Business Development Director – Renewables & Biochemicals at Braskem. “We are eager to offer this sustainable acetone alternative to our customers. It is a significant step for the petrochemical industry toward a sustainable future, in every sense.”

Bio-acetone is a drop-in replacement for fossil-based acetone and can be used in cosmetics, paints and coatings, acrylics, adhesives, and personal care applications. It is 100% renewable, benzene-free, phenol-free and verifiable through a C14 test.

About LALLEMAND

Lallemand Inc. is a privately held global company founded in Canada at the end of the 19th century, specializing in the development, production, and marketing of microorganisms. The company serves the baking, winemaking, distilling, ethanol, brewing, animal nutrition, dietary supplements, food, fermentation, pharmaceutical and agriculture industries. Lallemand currently has more than 6,300 employees located in over 50 countries on five continents. For more information visit www.lallemand.com

About Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits

Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits (LBDS), is a business unit of the Canadian yeast and bacteria producer Lallemand, Inc., based in Milwaukee, WI. LBDS is the global leader in biotechnology for alcohol production and is the leading supplier of ingredients and value creating services to the global fuel ethanol and distilled spirits markets. For more information on us, please visit www.lbds.com.

ABOUT BRASKEM

With a global vision of the future oriented towards people and sustainability, Braskem is committed to contributing to the value chain for strengthening the Circular Economy. The petrochemical company’s almost 8,000 team members dedicate themselves every day to improving people’s lives through sustainable chemicals and plastics solutions. Braskem has an innovative DNA and a comprehensive portfolio of plastic resins and chemical products for diverse segments, such as food packaging, construction, manufacturing, automotive, agribusiness, healthcare, and hygiene, among others. With industrial operations in Brazil, the United States, Mexico, and Germany, Braskem exports its products to clients in approximately 70 countries. To learn more visit, www.braskem.com.

Braskem social media: www.facebook.com/BraskemGlobal www.linkedin.com/company/braskem READ MORE

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The Bio-Acetone Breakthrough: How Braskem and Lallemand Are Unsticking the Future (Biofuels Digest)

Excerpt from Biofuels Digest: For decades, the global biofuels and biochemicals sector has searched for commercially viable renewable replacements for petrochemicals. On July 28, Braskem and LBDS unveiled a bio-acetone production platform designed specifically for the corn ethanol industry. More than another coproduct opportunity, it represents a new way for biorefineries to diversify revenues while reducing exposure to the volatility of fuel markets.

A Bolt-On Opportunity

For decades, the ethanol industry has found itself economically stuck. Plants have become extraordinarily efficient at producing fuel, yet many remain tethered to a single primary revenue stream whose fortunes rise and fall with gasoline demand, policy mandates and commodity markets. The challenge has never been making ethanol. It has been escaping ethanol’s gravity.

The partnership combines LBDS’s proprietary engineered yeast with Braskem’s separation technology.

...

Braskem has committed to developing the market for—and purchasing—the bio-acetone, providing ethanol producers with an established commercial pathway rather than asking them to become specialty chemical marketers overnight.

Craig Ammann, Vice President of Business Development at LBDS, described the collaboration as another tool to strengthen producer economics and reduce market volatility. Braskem’s Cirilo Vieira framed it as another step toward decarbonizing the chemical industry itself.

In that sense, Braskem isn’t simply introducing another coproduct.

It is introducing a solvent for one of the industry’s oldest business problems.

Why Acetone?

Acetone rarely receives headlines, yet more than eight million tonnes are consumed globally each year.

It quietly dissolves paints and coatings. It helps manufacture acrylics. It serves cosmetics, personal care products, adhesives, pharmaceuticals and countless industrial processes. Unlike glamorous breakthrough materials, acetone succeeds by helping everything else move more easily.

The new bio-acetone is chemically equivalent to conventional acetone, but produced entirely from renewable feedstocks.

...

For ethanol producers facing uncertain fuel demand, shifting regulations and persistently volatile margins, access to an established eight-million-tonne global chemicals market represents more than diversification. It represents resilience.

An Industry That Refused to Let Go
Braskem’s commitment to commercialize and market every tonne of bio-acetone may prove just as important as the fermentation technology itself.

...

Elsewhere, the momentum has continued.

Scotland’s Celtic Renewables recently shipped its first commercial cargoes of bio-acetone and biobutanol from Grangemouth. In Asia, LG Chem has already commercialized ISCC PLUS-certified bio-balanced acetone derived from renewable feedstocks, supplying manufacturers throughout the region.

...

Fermentation has always presented an awkward engineering problem. Desired molecules are often produced in relatively low concentrations, leaving engineers to separate tiny amounts of valuable product from enormous volumes of water. Purification can become as expensive as production itself.

That is why Braskem’s bolt-on separation technology, TU Delft’s purification research, and Hiroshima University’s engineered Moorella thermoacetica all point toward the same prize: making separation cheaper than creation.

Researchers at TU Delft have developed improved purification methods for acetone produced from industrial waste gases and syngas, addressing one of gas fermentation’s longstanding bottlenecks. LanzaTech has pursued similar pathways through syngas fermentation with support from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Researchers at Hiroshima University have taken a different approach by engineering Moorella thermoacetica, a heat-loving bacterium that naturally vaporizes acetone as it is produced. Rather than forcing engineers to separate dilute liquids afterward, the molecule effectively separates itself.

Sometimes the easiest molecule to purify is the one that decides to leave on its own.

...

Braskem and Lallemand’s bio-acetone platform may remove dependence on a single commodity.

That may prove to be the most valuable solvent of all. READ MORE