Global Bioenergies is a French company producing light liquid
hydrocarbons
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic; their odor is usually faint, and may b ...
derived from agricultural products using biological methods.
History
The company was founded in 2008 by Marc Delcourt and Philippe Marlière.
The pilot plant came on stream in May 2015. The company announced production of one tonne of bio-
isobutene
Isobutylene (or 2-methylpropene) is a hydrocarbon with the chemical formula . It is a four-carbon branched alkene (olefin), one of the four isomers of butylene. It is a colorless flammable gas, and is of considerable industrial value.
Productio ...
Essonne
Essonne () is a department in the southern part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659, across 194 communes.ARD (Agro-industrie Recherche et Développements) research and development structure BioDemo pilot in Pomacle-Bazancourt. A pilot for research purposes was constructed at the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical and Biotechnological Processes (Fraunhofer CBP) in
Leuna
Leuna () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, eastern Germany, south of Merseburg and Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle, on the river Saale.
The town is known for the ''Leuna works, Leunawerke'', at 13 km2 one of the biggest chemical industrial complexes i ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and is operational since 2016. Global Bioenergies also founded IBN-One, a joint-venture with Cristal Union, to install a plant in France, which should be operational in 2018..
Products
The first process developed is the production of mehtylpropene (also called isobutene or isobutylene) from
glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...
, according to a process developed in 2010. The
bacteria
Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...
involved in the transformation process carry artificial enzymatic material developed through
genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...
.
It is the only company in the world to have designed a conversion method for renewable resources (residual sugars, agricultural and forestry waste) into isobutene.
Global Bioenergies subsequently agreed a partnership with
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
The origins of the compa ...
to produce fuel from the same elementary building blocks as plants (
water
Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
,
hydrogen
Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...
,
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...