World's first industrial biobutanediol plant
Project Aim
Bottrighe plant, part of Novamont Group, world’s leader in the bioplastics sector and in the development of biochemicals and bioproducts from renewable origins, represents the world’s first dedicated industrial plant for the production of biobutanediol (1,4 bio-BDO) directly from sugars through a fermentation process. It is the result of the conversion of a decommissioned site acquired in 2012, in a logic of territorial regeneration and enhancement of preexisting skills and competencies, representing a fundamental development of Novamont biorefinery, integrating chemical processes for the production of biochemicals with industrial biotechnology, and thereby paving the way for the production of other chemical intermediates from renewable sources.
About
The plant covers an area of 200,000 sq.m. and has a productive capacity of 30.000 ton/year of 1,4 bio-BDO, a chemical intermediate characterized by a very high demand for a wide range of applications (textiles, electronics, automotive, etc.) and a building block for the production of Novamont bioplastics. The plant is conceived to reuse by-products for its own energy purpose, optimizing the whole life-cycle process. Since 2020, the anaerobic digester has started the first biogas production from an industrial waste consisting of thermally inactivated bacteria and their residues. By introducing an additional treatment system, the biogas is now converted into biomethane and fed into the national network, allowing to further increase the plant efficiency. The production activity is supported by the group’s research laboratories specialized in upstream and downstream biotechnological processes, including the valorisation of sugars from lignocellulosic and residual biomass.
