Description du projet
Production rentable et durable de monoéthylène glycol à partir de ressources renouvelables
Le monoéthylène glycol (MEG) est un ingrédient essentiel de la production de fibres et de résines de polyester, il est également utilisé comme agent antigel dans les liquides de refroidissement. La production globale de MEG repose en grande partie sur des sources pétrochimiques. L’unique méthode de production de MEG d’origine biologique disponible dans le commerce est inefficace et coûteuse, ce qui compromet son utilisation à grande échelle. L’UE soutient la société néerlandaise Avantium dans le développement d’un procédé en une seule étape, appelé Ray Technology, destiné à produire du bio-MEG à partir de ressources renouvelables. Le produit obtenu est compétitif en termes de coût et de qualité par rapport à celui dérivé des combustibles fossiles. Le projet EGgPLANT, financé par l’UE, entend mettre cette technologie à l’échelle en vue de sa commercialisation.
Objectif
The EGgPLANT project will scale up in a demonstration plant a novel method to produce monoethylene glycol (MEG) from renewable carbohydrates using a highly carbon efficient catalytic process.
The global MEG market demand is growing from a current base of 30 Mton/year to over 50 Mton by 2035, requiring more than a million tons of additional supply every year for the next twenty years.
Today, almost all of the MEG produced globally is from fossil sources despite a stated need from forward-looking brand owners, packaging and textile companies to source MEG from renewable sources.
There is one provider of bio-based MEG on the market which is using an inefficient and expensive process compared to lower cost oil, shale gas, and coal-based alternatives. This high cost position is hampering the widespread use of bio-based MEG.
To address this issue, Avantium has developed a one-step ‘Mekong’ process for producing bio-MEG from renewable sources which can compete with the incumbent fossil-based product on both cost and quality, making the product competitive in the global marketplace and poised to be a sustainable supply solution to address the increasing demand.
The demonstration plant (11 ton/year) built and operated in this project allows for techno-economic scale-up and evaluation of the process, in addition to producing relevant sample quantities of product to support downstream validation in at least three applications, collecting of data to conduct a third-party environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA) and preparation for scale-up to industrial size plants.
The next phase after this project is to deploy a 200 kton/year Mekong flagship plant with a strategic partner in Europe. Target customers of this flagship plant will primarily be European polyethylene terephthalate (PET) producers. Avantium and the strategic partner will deploy subsequent industrial scale plants in Europe, and will license out the technology to parties in geographies other than Europe.
Champ scientifique
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SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinateur
1014 BV Amsterdam
Pays-Bas
L’entreprise s’est définie comme une PME (petite et moyenne entreprise) au moment de la signature de la convention de subvention.