Daniele Ferrari, CEO, Versalis.
MILAN, ITALY: Versalis, Eni’s chemicals subsidiary, together with Genomatica, and Novamont signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a strategic partnership to enable production of butadiene from renewable feedstocks. The partnership, on the basis of which a joint venture will be established, will develop a comprehensive ‘end-to-end’ process for production of polymer-grade butadiene from biomass.
Versalis will hold a majority interest in the joint venture and aims to be the first to build commercial plants using the process technology upon project success. This unique and important agreement brings together the core competencies of all three companies. Versalis will use Genomatica’s process technology for economically competitive and sustainable production of an important supply-constrained chemical.
“Genomatica’s process technology for on-purpose butadiene combined with our experience in downstream applications and our ability to rapidly scale and commercialize the process can expand our industry’s approach to C4 production, seizing a promising business opportunity in a market that is experiencing a critical time. This partnership, which follows the establishment of Matrica, the equal joint venture with Novamont for the production of monomers, intermediates and polymers from renewable sources, accelerates the entry of Versalis in that business by strengthening its leadership in elastomers, in line with the new strategy of focusing on products with high-added value,” said Daniele Ferrari, CEO, Versalis.
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