🏭 The Column: February 14, 2025

Good morning, and Happy Valentine’s Day! Today we’re talking about LG Chem’s bio-based acrylic acid, replacing some classic fatty acid esterification processes with enzymes, and Angola’s first urea plant.

Things Happened:

Bio-based acrylic acid

LG Chem announced that they’ll be starting up a 0.1 KTA bio-based acrylic acid plant within the next few months. The plan is to make that acrylic acid by dehydrating 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3HP), which they are making via fermentation. Sure, it’s a tiny drop in the bucket relative to the 6,000 KT of acrylic acid we produce each year by oxidizing propylene, but that doesn’t make this announcement insignificant. I’d be willing to bet that there’s consumer demand out there for bio-based diapers, and about half of the world’s acrylic acid is used to make the superabsorbent polymer (SAP) you find in diapers. Similarly, acrylic acid is used to make carbomers and polyacrylic acid, which are frequently used in cosmetic products (typically as thickeners or stabilizers)—and you can probably generate new sales if replacing your carbomer with LG Chem’s bio-based carbomer enables your product to become 100% bio-based. [LINK]

Enter enzymatic esterification

Process technology company, Thyssenkrupp Uhde, has reportedly developed a new enzyme-based process for the esterification of natural fatty acids, thanks to some enzymes supplied by Novonesis (a company formed just one month ago when Novozymes and Chr. Hansen merged). These companies are targeting some of the smaller-scale higher-value esters you’ll find in cosmetics and personal care (think isopropyl palmitate, cetyl oleate, glyceryl stearate, etc.), not your commodity esters like ethyl or butyl acetate. At the surface level that sort of thinking sounds similar to the bio-based acrylic acid discussion above, but the dynamics here are very different—even in cosmetic markets, a 60% reduction in the emissions associated with one of twenty plus ingredients is not meaningful, especially since natural fatty acids are already bio-based (from coconut and palm oil). [LINK]

Angolan urea

While it’s true that the Haber-Bosch process is what enabled the widespread use of synthetic fertilizers and the ability to feed billions of people, we’d be far less capable of doing so if it weren’t for the Bosch-Meiser process, which reacts ammonia with CO2 to make urea (urea is the nitrogen-containing solid compound we find in more than half of our fertilizers). In any case, it’s hard to get excited about urea nowadays, but I always find it fascinating when a developing nation builds their first urea plant because it sort of marks the start of industrialization in my mind. Toyo Engineering will be building a 4 KTA urea plan on the Atlantic coast in Soyo, Angola, and it will be Angola’s first. [LINK]

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Other Things Happened:

Lummus sold their first superabsorbent polymer technology license. Gevo and Axens expanded their SAF partnership. Sasol and a couple of other companies are partnering to produce feedstocks for renewable diesel. ArcelorMittal is building a $1.2bn electrical steel plant in Alabama. A new direct ocean carbon capture plant started up in Hawaii. LyondellBasell and Covestro might close their propylene oxide and styrene plan in the Netherlands. Kuraray decided to stop producing acrylic block co-polymer. Invista just opened a $13m technology facility outside of Houston.