The terms of the 2011 agreement between PBS producer PTTMCC Biochem (Bangkok / Thailand), a joint venture between PTT (Bangkok; www.pttplc.com) and Mitsubishi Chemical (MCC, Tokyo / Japan; www.m-kagaku.co.jp), and US renewable chemistry company BioAmber (Plymouth, Minnesota / USA; www.bio-amber.com) have become more concrete – for previous coverage, see Plasteurope.com of 19.09.2011. Now that both companies are in the final stretches of building their respective plants – PTTMCC plans to commission a 20,000 t/y PBS plant in Rayong / Thailand in H1 2015, while BioAmber is to start up its 30,000 t/y bio-succinic acid plant in Sarnia / Canada at the same time – the two companies have signed a “take-or-pay” contract for an initial period of three years.

Under the terms of the deal, BioAmber will become the exclusive supplier of bio-succinic acid to PTTMCC, covering at least 80% of its total needs, estimated at 14,000 t/y. The deal expires at the end of 2017. Commenting on the agreement, BioAmber chief commercial officer Babette Pettersen said, “This contract guarantees significant sales volume for our Sarnia plant during its first three years of operation.”

The US company in February signed an offtake agreement with marketing and distribution company Vinmar International (Houston, Texas / USA; www.vinmar.com), under the terms of which the latter will purchase 100% of the output from BioAmber’s 100,000 t/y bio-based BDO plant, due on stream in 2017 – see Plasteurope.com of 04.02.2014.