TWO MIlESTONES hIT IN BioMA+ project
First milestone: lab scale performances of the Isobutene process
Second milestone: process scale up in industrial pilot, reached 80 days in advance
Evry (France) - 23 November, 2015 - Global Bioenergies (Alternext Paris: ALGBE) announces having reached two milestones on the labscale development and the industrial scale up of its isobutene process, one of them over 2 months in advance. The BioMA+ project is financed by the ADEME in the context of the French "Investissements d'Avenir" State program. The project targets the development of a value chain that converts renewable resources into isobutene and subsequently into methacrylic acid, an essential component of acrylic paints. These milestones give rise to a payment of €879 K.
Since 2008, Global Bioenergies has been developing an innovative process to convert renewable resources into isobutene, one of the main building blocks of the petrochemical industry from which fuels, plastics and rubbers are made.
In 2013, the Company announced that, as part of its "Investissements d'Avenir" program, the French government had granted financing of €5.2 million to a consortium bringing together Arkema, the French center for scientific research (CNRS) and Global Bioenergies. The project involves developing and demonstrating at pilot scale a process for converting renewable resources (sugar, cereals, agricultural and forestry wastes) into isobutene, which is subsequently converted into methacrylic acid, an essential component of acrylic paints and for which there is a market of more than €500 million. At the beginning of 2015, Global Bioenergies announced having reached the project's first milestone and having received payments totaling €2.3 million from the overall amount of €4 million directly allocated to the Company.
Global Bioenergies has submitted the two milestones of the BioMA+ project-one of which in advance by over two months-to the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), acting on behalf of the French government within the context of the "Investissements d'Avenir" program. Consequently, Global Bioenergies will shortly receive a payment of €879K, of which one third is in the form of a subsidy, and the other two thirds as a repayable advance.
Thomas Buhl, Head of Business Development at Global Bioenergies, stated: "Our ability to supply batches has led to the further development of our interactions with industrialists. This year, we have thereby received various requests from both Europe and North America. These are the premises to future commercial agreements."
Marc Delcourt, Co-founder and CEO of Global Bioenergies concluded: "In recent months we have made very significant progress in industrializing our isobutene process. We are already preparing the next phase, which will consist in operating our process in our demonstration plant, which is currently under construction at the Leuna site in Germany. This will be the last stage before large-scale commercial operations. The installation of a first plant in France is already being discussed within the context of the IBN-One Joint Venture, started this year with the Cristal Union Group."
About GLOBAL BIOENERGIES
Global Bioenergies is one of the few companies worldwide, and the only one in Europe, that is developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation. The Company initially focused its efforts on the production of isobutene, one of the most important petrochemical building blocks that can be converted into fuels, plastics, organic glass and elastomers. Global Bioenergies continues to improve the performances of its process, operates its industrial pilot, has begun the construction of its demo plant in Germany, and prepares the first full-scale plant through a Joint-Venture with Cristal Union, named IBN-One. The company also replicated its achievement to propylene and butadiene, two members of the gaseous olefins family, key molecules at the heart of petrochemical industry. Global Bioenergies is listed on Alternext, Euronext Paris (FR0011052257 - ALGBE).
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Contact
GLOBAL BIOENERGIES
Jean-Baptiste BARBAROUX
Head of Corporate Development
Phone: 01 64 98 20 50
Email: jean-baptiste.barbaroux@global-bioenergies.com
