Renewable

July 26 (Renewables Now) - Gevo's isobutanol technology will now be offered for licensing to processors of sugar cane juice and molasses, the US biofuels firms said on Tuesday.

This is as a result of joint development and development license agreements Gevo signed with Indian engineering company Praj Industries Ltd (BOM:522205) in November 2015. The agreements called for Praj to adapt Gevo's technology to using non-corn based sugars and lignocellulose feedstocks.

The cooperation has now reached a point where the technology will be made available for commercialisation to cane juice and molasses-based ethanol plants. Licensees will be mainly sought among Praj plants located in India, South America and South East Asia, with a target to have the initial capacity operational sometime in 2019 or 2020.

The isobutanol platform can be offered as bolt-on to existing ethanol plants or as a greenfield plant, explained Pramod Chaudhari, executive chairman of Praj, which has worked on 750 ethanol plant projects around the world.

Gevo is expected to be the main off-taker, marketer and initial distributor for isobutanol produced using its technology at the Praj-built plants.

Isobutanol can be used as a gasoline blendstock, a specialty chemical solvent or an intermediate for products such as alcohol-to-jet fuel and isooctane.