Greenyug to build ethanol-based biochemical plant in Nebraska

Privately held US technology company Greenyug intends to build an industrial scale ethyl acetate manufacturing facility and has formed a subsidiary, Prairie Catalytic, that will own and operate the plant.

The chemical plant is to be located adjacent to Archer Daniels Midland Co.'s (ADM) wet mill corn processing facilities in Columbus, Nebraska.

Prairie Catalytic has executed a Conditional Commitment with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development for a loan guarantee under its Business & Industry Loan Guarantee programme.

The agreement will position the new Nebraska facility as a renewable supplier of ethyl acetate, with ADM’s mill supplying the project with bioethanol feedstock and other services.

Construction of the facility is anticipated to start in late 2016 with production set to begin about a year later.

Sagar B. Gadewar, president and CEO at Greenyung, sees bioethanol as an “excellent feedstock” for producing value-added bio-based chemicals.

“Securing a reliable and efficient source of quality raw materials is one of the final steps in scaling Greenyug’s patented ethyl acetate technology. We look forward to the Prairie Catalytic plant satisfying market demand for renewable specialty chemicals manufactured in a sustainable, environmentally sound, and cost-competitive manner,” Gadewar said.

Greenyug developed its patented technology at its Santa Barbara, California, research facility and continued the scale-up at its fully integrated demonstration plant in India.

The company has developed a proprietary platform to add value to bioethanol by upgrading it into a variety of bio-based chemicals with broad market appeal.

Greenyug ethyl acetate, the first of such products, is a specialty solvent used in products such as paints, coatings, pharmaceuticals, adhesives, and a variety of consumer goods.

Ethyl acetate has a global market of more than $4 billion (€3.5bn) and the market is growing faster than GDP because of its desirable properties, the company reports.

Greenyug’s ethyl acetate will be the first commercially available chemical of its kind in industrial quantities to be entirely sourced from renewable feedstock.