Approximately 54 million metric tons of PET are manufactured globally each year. Despite strong industry demand, there is no commercially-available, bio-based paraxylene. This has limited the ability to make 100 percent bio-based PET at commercial scale. By using Bio-TCat technology, Anellotech and its partners are accelerating the development of bio-based paraxylene and other widely-used chemicals including benzene, toluene and other xylenes (commonly known as BTX) from non-food sources. This will allow for the first cost-effective production and commercial realization of 100 percent bio-PET bottles for consumer use.<\/p>\n
The ultimate competitive advantage of Bio-TCat over fermentation-based technologies is derived from Anellotech\u2019s use of a simple process performed in one reactor-catalyst system. Other than biomass and catalyst, there are no further inputs, apart from minor amounts of hydrogen used downstream of the reactor to remove trace impurities prior to further separation of the BTX. As a result, these bio-based aromatics can be sold profitably against their identical, petroleum-derived counterparts. Furthermore, because it uses renewable and abundant non-food feedstocks, such as wood, corn stover and bagasse, the Bio-TCat process is less expensive compared to those that use sugar-based feedstock, and avoids competition with the food chain.<\/p>\n
About Anellotech<\/strong><\/p>\n Anellotech\u2019s R&D team works with in-depth, highly-interactive, and long-term partnerships with leaders in process development, catalysis, engineering design, and licensing to accelerate development and drive cost-competitiveness. This ensures an end-to-end collaboration with a focus on technical and process economic success.<\/p>\n Anellotech continues to seek additional funding and strategic partners to support the development of the Bio-TCat technology and participate in its future success. These include companies interested in cost-competitive bio-based benzene and toluene and their derivatives, complementing Suntory\u2019s strong interest in bio-paraxylene.<\/p>\n About the 100 Percent Bio-based PET Bottle<\/strong><\/p>\n Renewable resource-based processes to produce \u201cdrop in\u201d green aromatics need to be cost-competitive with conventional petroleum feedstocks to be accepted by the industry. With Anellotech\u2019s Bio-TCat technology, non-edible biomass is converted into BTX. Using existing, globally-available chemical processes, toluene can be further converted into benzene and more xylenes, and the xylenes into purified paraxylene, which is then converted into terephthalic acid (PTA). PTA can be polymerized together with mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) in a 70\/30 ratio into PET resin for plastic bottles.<\/p>\n Renewable bio-MEG produced from sugar cane has already been introduced in some PET containers, including Mineral Water Suntory Tennensui sold in Japan. By replacing fossil-derived paraxylene with identical plant-based material, production of 100 percent renewable PET becomes possible.<\/p>\n
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