Renewable Butadiene Deals Proliferate

Three new partnerships signal growth in the fledgling effort to produce butadiene without petroleum feedstocks. Biobased chemicals firm Genomatica and Brazil’s Braskem are joining to produce the intermediate from sugar via fermentation. Braskem will fund and assist with R&D as well as pay for pilot and demonstration-scale facilities. In return, Genomatica will license to Braskem the right to use the process in the Americas. Separately, fiber maker Invista will collaborate with the U.K.’s Centre for Process Innovation to develop a way to ferment butadiene from waste gases. Finally, tire maker Michelin has partnered with the French agribusiness firm Tereos to make alcohol for a butadiene project Michelin announced last month.