BioAmber scales up bio-based BDO production

In France, BioAmber has scaled up its hydrogenation catalyst technology under license from DuPont and converted multi-ton quantities of bio-succinic acid into 100% bio-based 1,4-butanediol, tetrahydrofuran, and gamma-butyrolactone.

Using bio-succinic acid made at its French facility as a starting material, BioAmber successfully completed a 1,4-BDO production campaign in collaboration with one of the world’s leading commercial catalyst suppliers and a toll manufacturer possessing large-scale hydrogenation reactors and distillation columns.  Jim Millis, BioAmber’s Chief Technology Officer, stated, “We are developing an integrated plant engineering design that combines the production of bio-succinic acid and bio-based 1,4-BDO on a single site.”