Lignocellulosic Platform Goes Beyond Biofuels: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Clariant’s Sunliquid
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Chemicals, catalysis, additives – At ABLC Digital this July, Clariant shared how they are working on advancing biofuels globally and details on their sunliquid technology to decarbonize transportation. A fully integrated and carbon negative process, sunliquid is a platform for sustainable biobased products too like cosmetics, lubricants, plastics and more.
This slide guide has details on their sunliquid pre-commercial plant in Germany, the sunliquid plant in Romania en route to commercialization, and more. READ MORE
Construction of Sunliquid plant in Romania to be compete in 2021 (Ethanol Producer Magazine)
Clariant’s new Romanian plant operational in a year’s time (Biofuels International)
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Excerpt from Ethanol Producer Magazine: The sunliquid plant receives more than EUR 40 million in funding from the European Union¹ and is constructed on a 10-hectare area in Podari near Craiova in southwestern Romania, from where it has access to a secure regional supply of feedstock and can benefit from the region’s existing logistic and industrial infrastructure. Once operational, the plant will process approx. 250,000 tons of straw to produce 50,000 tons of sunliquid® cellulosic ethanol on an annual basis. This is an advanced, truly sustainable, and carbon-neutral biofuel that can readily be blended into conventional fuel and be used in today’s car infrastructure.
“Over the past months, several milestones have been reached on the construction site while also achieving the installation of the majority of large key equipment. This puts us on track to complete the construction by the end of 2021, after which start-up and production will commence. We are proud to see already the substantial benefits that our investment is bringing to the Podari region and look forward to see its impact increase further once the plant is fully staffed and operating at full capacity”, says Christian Librera, vice president and head of business line biofuels and derivatives at Clariant.
Clariant is also making headway with the recruitment and training of staff members for its sunliquid project in Romania. The company’s local employee population is expanding rapidly, with a total of 26 people so far. These team members benefit from a comprehensive training program in Germany and Romania. They started their training at the pre-commercial sunliquid plant in Straubing, Germany, followed by training sessions in collaboration with the University of Craiova, a renowned educational center in the Southwest of Romania. In the long-term, up to 100 staff members will be directly employed in the plant, while about 300 jobs will be created in connecting businesses, e.g., the collection, storage, and transportation of the feedstock.
On the Moleculist Blog on Clariant’s website, the successful path that has taken the sunliquid® technology platform from development and testing in Bavaria, Germany to the first-of-its-kind commercial facility in Podari, Romania is presented in greater detail. READ MORE
