Genomatica is a sustainable chemicals company: the company’s products are intended to be direct “green” replacements for intermediate and basic chemicals. They intend to affect this change by transforming the economics of the industry with technology. They want to replace petrochemicals by outcompeting them with green technology. Their first major product was 1,4-Butanediol (which uses vegetable sugars as a feedstock), which is now being produced at a 15 thousand liter per year integrated demonstration plant.
Schilling made a convincing case for the green chemicals industry based on some solid market research; 57% of companies in their survey believe that they should move away from petroleum based commodities, showing clear consumer demand for a different way.
They also found evidence of customers seeking out greener options; 57% report their customers expressing interest in sustainably produced chemicals. Finally, 46% of respondents are of the opinion that there is an economic advantage to using renewable feedstocks over petrochemical (23% didn’t know and 31% didn’t think there was an economic advantage), showing there is confidence in sustainable technology. He then went on to examine the place of renewables in existing markets; as of 2007, industrial and electricity sectors had the highest percentage (each 9%) of renewable supply in the mix. He also made an interesting point about natural gas; in industrial and residential sectors, natural gas makes up a significant part of demand so renewable technology may have be competitive with crude oil prices and natural gas prices, and natural gas is relatively cheap at the moment.
Schilling went on to look at the state of the Industry at present: what kinds of product are presenting the biggest opportunities for new biotechnologies. Novel biodegradable polymers created from bio-based feedstocks are serving a smaller market; this is likely to be due to how young the technology is and consumers are likely to stick to products they know. The markets for these new products will also take time to grow. Bio-sourced replacements, chemically identical to their petrochemically derived originals can penetrate a much larger market; large markets for these products already exist and confidence in the product from consumers is less of an issue. For example, polyethylene is still polyethylene no matter what feedstock.
He had words of wisdom for those trying to make their companies a success in the industry. The production costs of bio-based chemicals are still relatively high, and only niche markets will pay more for greener products solely on the grounds that they are greener. This means companies that focus on bio-based chemicals rather than bio-based fuels (a more cost-limited sector) will see better profits and stability. Simplifying production processes and integrated processing will be important for reducing productions costs and allowing the market to expand in future. Also, with respect to novel biopolymers, it will take time to create markets (15-20 years, Schilling says) so it will be some time before the profitability of these technologies becomes high, but they are set to grow.
The path forward to ensure the growth of the industry, according to Genomatica is to “make changes as close to the source as possible” to “build towards using a variety of renewable feedstocks” and to turn the transition to sustainability into a chance to make businesses more profitable. These first two would make the bio-based chemicals sector flexible; flexible enough to deliver multiple products to established markets using whichever feedstocks make the most economic sense at that point in time. The third and final point really is about ensuring the uptake of new bio-based chemicals technology. The ultimate way of promoting the uptake of green technology is to make it more profitable than competing options. While some have reservations about climate change, others dispute oil depletion projections, nobody can argue with profit!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.