Synthos, Global Bioenergies form rubber, nylon, plastics development partnership

In France, Synthos and Global Bioenergies agreed to develop a new process for the conversion of renewable resources into butadiene, involving research funding, multi-million euro development fees, royalty payments, repartition of exploitation rights, and a €1.4m equity investment in Global Bioenergies.

Butadiene is a chemical building block used to manufacture synthetic rubber, nylon, latices, ABS plastics and other polymers. The spot price of butadiene has recently rocketed to over $3/kg, and the 10MT annual trade is worth $30bn at current prices.

Under the agreement, Global Bioenergies would receive R&D funding, multi-million euro development fees, and royalty payments from Synthos on sales of bio-butadiene for the manufacturing of rubber. Global Bioenergies will retain the exclusive rights on non-rubber applications.