3 July 2013
Details
BASF, Cargill and Novozymes
today announced the achievement of an important
milestones in their joint development of technologies
to produce acrylic acid from renewable raw material by
successfully demonstrating the production of
3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) in pilot scale.
3-HP is a renewable-based building block and
one possible chemical precursor to acrylic acid.
The companies also have successfully established
several technologies to dehydrate 3-HP to acrylic acid at lab scale.
This step in the process is critical since it is the foundation
for production of acrylic acid.
In August 2012, BASF, Cargill and Novozymes announced
their joint agreement to develop a process for
the conversion of renewable raw materials into a
100 percent bio-based acrylic acid.
BASF
Teressa Szelest, Senior Vice President Global Hygiene Business
- We still have a fair amount of work to do before
the process is commercially ready, but this is a significant milestone
and we are confident we can continue to the next level of
scale-up for the entire process in 2014.
Bio-based Acrylic acid to Superabsorbent Polymers (SAP)
Acrlyic Acid (AA) is a high-volume chemical that
feeds into a broad range of products.
BASF is the world's largest producer of acrylic acid and
plans initally to use the bio-based acrylic acid to
manufacture superabsorbent polymers (SAP) that
soak up large amounts of liquid and
are used mainly in baby diapers and other hygiene products.
Presently, acrylic acid is produced by
oxidation of propylene derived from the refining of crude oil.
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