GREEN-B2B-2

Goal

1,3-butadiene (1,3-BD) is an important raw material for the polymer industry such as styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), polybutadiene rubber (PBR), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), etc. Flanders currently has a fossil-based 1,3-BD production capacity of 300 kt/year through BASF and Evonik. 

GREEN-B2B-2 aims to expand this capacity in a sustainable manner expand by 10% (i.e., 30 kt/year), resulting in a CO2 emission reduction of 150 kt/year. This is achieved through microbial production of 1,3-butanediol (1,3-BDO) from paper and cardboard hydrolysate (and CO2) followed by acid-catalyzed conversion into 1,3-BD.

Underlying these are innovations in genetic engineering, catalyst design and synthesis, kinetic and process modeling, and a complete techno-economic analysis and calibration of the entire process relative to conventional steam cracking and ethanol conversion into 1,3-BD.