The 30 Hottest Biobased Molecules for 2016

You might well ask, as we do, where’s PHA, where are the BTX molecules, where’s HMD? What are opportunities like limonene and DME doing in the top 50 but not the top 30? No two people will exactly agree on the Hot 30, but as Winston Churchill once observed, “there’s someone who is smarter than anyone, and that’s everyone.”

The complete Hot 30 are:

1. 5C and 6C sugars

2. Omega-3 DHA, PA and Omega-7

3. Succinic acid

4. Renewable jet fuel

5. Renewable diesel (e.g. 9-15 carbon organics)

6. Ethanol

7. Lactic/polylactic acid (PLA)

8. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)

9. Hydrogen

10. Butanol

11. Butanediol (BDO)

12. Polyamides (e.g. nylon 6,6)

13. Biodiesel (i.e fatty acid methyl esters)

14. Adipic acid

15. Polyethylene furanoate (PEF)

16. Renewable methane

17. Butadiene

18. Acrylic acid

19. Xylitol/arabinitol/sorbitol

20. Propanediol (PDO)

21. Levulinic acid

22. Oleic acid

23. Carbon monoxide

24. Dodecandioic acid (DDDA)

25. Lignin

26. Carbon dioxide

27. Renewable gasoline (e.g. 4-11 carbon organics)

28. Farnesene/farnesane

29. Monoethylene glycol (MEG)

30. Methanol

 

Featured in the #31 to #51 positions are:

31. Acetic acid

32. Glycerol

33. Furfural

34. Furan dicarboxylic acid

35. Linoleic acid

36. DME (dimethyl ether)

37. Butyl acetate

38. Hydroxypropionic acid

39. Acetone

40. Benzene/toluene/xylene

41. Glutamic acid

42. Isoprene

43. Glucaric acid

44. Malic acid

45. Ethylene

46. Itaconic acid

47. Aspartic acid

48. Limonene

49. Lauric acid

50. Malonic acid