SRI Consulting Releases SRI Consulting Publishes Chemicals from Ethanol Report
Largest Volume Chemical Used In Industry is Now Also Renewable
MENLO
PARK, CA. Dec. 4, 2007 —With the recent boom in the ethanol fuel market, particularly in Brazil and the United States, the production of chemicals from ethanol has attracted renewed interest. Environmental concerns over the use of fossil-based resources and the concept of sustainability have also broadened worldwide interest in renewable sources for both chemical feedstocks and for energy. Today, SRI Consulting (SRIC) released its new Chemicals from Ethanol Report presenting a technical and economic analysis of the production of chemicals from ethanol, with a special focus on ethylene, acetic acid and ethyl acetate.
Gregory Bohlmann, Assistant Director at SRIC’s Process Economics Program (PEP) commented, “As one of the largest volume commodity chemicals used worldwide, ethylene is consumed as a raw material in the production of plastics, fibers and films that are ultimately consumed in the packaging, transportation, construction and consumer markets.” Mr. Bohlmann continued, “The exciting innovation of producing ethylene and other chemicals from ethanol is that the process is sustainable and renewable, but still performs at the same level as conventional ethylene from fossil feedstocks.”
Technologies for producing chemicals from ethanol are well known and have been around commercially for several decades. Ethylene production by ethanol dehydration was widely used in the United States and Western Europe during the first half of the 20th century, and in Brazil and India during the 1950s and 1960s.
Marcos Nogueira César, Regional Director, Latin American Operations and Author of the report said, “Production costs of bio-derived ethanol have declined significantly over the years as a result of productivity improvements and economies of scale.” Mr. César continued, ”This, combined with the promise of new technologies from cheap cellulosic biomass, could make ethanol a competitive feedstock for chemicals in the future.”
SRIC’s Chemicals from Ethanol report presents conceptual designs and associated cost estimates for the production of ethylene, acetic acid and ethyl acetate. For ethylene and acetic acid, the report presents economic models examining the competitiveness of the ethanol-based process vis-à-vis the existing petrochemical routes. For ethyl acetate, the report compares the economics of the conventional process of esterification of acetic acid and ethanol with those of a recent dehydrogenation process.
For additional information about the Chemicals from Ethanol report contact Marcos Nogueira César at mcesar@sriconsulting.com or +1 617-349-0095, or visit the SRIC website at www.sriconsulting.com/PEP.
About SRI Consulting
SRI Consulting (SRIC) is the world’s leading business research service for the global chemical industry. Publishing for almost 60 years, SRI Consulting is the preeminent source for in-depth business and process analysis. This report was developed by the Process Economics Program (PEP) group providing in-depth, independent technical and economic evaluation of both commercial and emerging technologies for the chemical and refining industries. SRI Consulting’s headquarters are located in Menlo Park, California with offices in The Woodlands, Texas; Zürich, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan; and Beijing, China. SRI Consulting is a division of Access Intelligence, LLC. Additional Information is available at www.sriconsulting.com.
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