Biobased Buzz: Renewable Propylene Glycol – Early Success in Renewable Chemical Market

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January 26, 2018

This is the first feature of a periodic series where SBFF will report on various sectors and players in the quickly growing and changing biobased products space.  Biobased products are materials produced from biomass-sourced chemicals, plastics, fuel co-products and waste streams. Product categories include lubricants, detergents, inks, fertilizers, building materials, consumer care items and plastics.  

Propylene glycol is a ubiquitous petroleum-based chemical that is widely used in plastics manufacturing but also for food processing, consumer care products and pharmaceuticals. Currently, approximately 900,000 metric tons of petroleum is used to produce both food-grade and industrial propylene glycol each year. According to the Department of Energy, substitution of renewable propylene glycol made from biomass can reduce greenhouse gases by 61 percent, as compared to using petroleum-based propylene glycol. 

The process for converting biomass to propylene glycol (PG) has been long understood. Scientists demonstrated the possibility as early as the 1930s, but the conversion process was inefficient and PG yields were unpredictable.  But with support from DOE’s Bioenergy Technology Office and the National Corn Growers Association, scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) were able to identify a catalyst that efficiently converted renewable alcohols, including sorbitol (a corn-derived sugar alcohol) and glycerin (a byproduct of biodiesel refining).

Once the catalyst was identified by PNNL scientists, Archer Daniels Midlands (ADM) provided industry expertise and was able to increase conversion rates to near 90 percent, making the production of renewable PG an economic reality. Focusing on renewable glycerin, a byproduct of the biodiesel refining process, PNNL partnered with ADM to scale up the production of renewable PG.  

In 2011, ADM was able to build a commercial production facility for PG at its Decatur, Illinois facility.  Today, ADM is producing 100,000 million metric tons of renewable propylene glycol from renewable glycerin and employing 140 people at the Decatur facility. In 2012, chemical conglomerate BASF partnered with Oleon to open another biobased PG conversion facility in Belgium.

Today, the renewable PG produced by ADM is sold for use in a variety of products including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, pet food and de-icers.  It meets the industry standards for 100 percent biobased renewable carbon content, as well as the USDA’s BioPreferred labeling standards.

The story of renewable PG is one that is being replicated across the bioeconomy – as scientists and industry work together to take byproducts of the biofuels refining process and turn them into valuable chemicals and products. The USDA estimates that there are approximately 40,000 biobased products currently in existence, which includes both agricultural and forestry biomass. Over the next decade, this sector is poised for explosive growth – renewable chemicals are projected to grow to more than 11 percent of the market by 2020, according to the global consulting firm McKinsey.  The growth of the sector could turn the ‘fuels and co-products’ model on its head – to ‘chemicals and fuels’. Such bio-refineries may well have fuels as the co-product.

According to USDA, the biobased economy added $393 billion to the economy in 2014, providing 1.528 million direct and 2.695 million indirect jobs.  Important, early support for R&D and ‘first-of-kind’ projects like renewable PG have been provided by federal dollars, including the Farm Bill’s Energy Title, the U.S. Department of Energy Biology Technology Office, as well as private partners.

                                  

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