ZeaChem produces ethyl acetate in next step towards commercialization

In Colorado, ZeaChem announced it has produced commercial grade ethyl acetate, thereby proving its core technology platform. Ethyl acetate is a widely-used chemical intermediate that can be sold directly to chemical manufacturers or converted into ethanol. The achievement marks the final milestone in proving the core components of the company’s biorefining platform to stakeholders in the fuel and chemicals industries.

In February, ZeaChem announced its 10,000 times scale increase in fermentation to acetic acid, and the concentration of that broth into glacial acetic acid, a salable product.

Through an esterification reaction process validated externally by process expert Sulzer Chemtech, the company has converted the glacial acetic acid into ethyl acetate. Both the concentration and esterification processes are commercially available from multiple vendors.

The annual market for ethyl acetate, used as a solvent in paints, printing inks, pharmaceuticals and packaging is roughly $2.2 billion globally and $115 million in the U.S. ZeaChem’s biological pathway provides a lower cost route for the production of ethyl acetate compared to natural gas-based processes.

More on the story.

More Coverage on this Topic

• The $6 Gasoline That Almost Was
• On the Move in Biofuels: ZeaChem
• US ethanol growth to boost fuel additive market to $1.6B by 2016
• San Carlos Bioenergy in the Philippines expands as government encourages local ethanol production
• Florida renewable enrgy bill passes – good for tax credits, bad for algae
• EPA approves E15 ethanol blend registrations
• Capacity expansion better than greenfield projects, say ethanol producers
• Queensland’s election landslide: a message for state, country or the world?

Tags: ethanol, ethyl acetate, ZeaChem

Category: Producer News