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By Frank Esposito
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: July 19, 2013 1:37 pm ET
Bioplastics technology firm Elevance Renewable Sciences Inc. has opened a major bio-feedstocks plant through a joint venture in Gresik, Indonesia.
Woodridge, Ill.-based Elevance has begun shipping commercial products from the biorefinery in Gresik, officials said in a July 18 news release. Elevance is operating the plant through a joint venture with Wilmar International Ltd., the Singapore-based firm that bills itself as Asia's leading agribusiness group.
The plant has annual capacity of almost 400 million pounds of bio-based specialty chemicals, including multifunctional esters. The plant initially will operate using palm oil, but also can run on soybean, mustard or other bio-feeds. In plastics, Elevance's materials can be used in specialty nylons, polyols, polyester, epoxies and polyurethane.
Elevance already has development deals in place with materials firms Arkema Group and Clariant International Ltd.
"We are pleased to have successfully and safely complete construction, commissioning and startup, allowing us to commercially supply partners with better-performing, cost-competitive renewable alternatives to petrochemicals across multiple industries," Elevance CEO K'Lynne Johnson said in the release. | |
